Best Served Cold
by Leapin-jot
Summary: COMPLETE! In the summer after his fifth year, Harry realizes he has a problem with his temper (Hermione might have mentioned it once or twice) He begins a new summer project. Post OotP
1. Chapter 1

The Harry Potter characters and world are the sole property of JK Rowling. My thanks to her for letting me borrow them.

**Best Served Cold**

By LNLisa 

Chapter One- Tuesday 

"Mr. Potter," said the chairwitch, Amelia Bones, in a shocked voice. "Do you realize the seriousness of what you have done? You may have to stand trial, and if proven guilty..." The woman stopped, unable to continue.

The churning in Harry's stomach turned up a notch. _It isn't fair,_ he wanted to yell out. _While the ministry was sitting around doing nothing, Bellatrix killed my godfather. She deserved..._ but Harry knew he had to stop thinking that way. The relentless anger he'd felt all year was tearing him up inside.

He realized he'd been glaring at Chairwitch Bones when the courtroom audience began murmuring again. He took several deep breaths to calm himself down.

"Mr. Potter, expect to be called back to this courtroom once all of the other witnesses have testified. We will have further questions for you at that time."

A rush of feeling, like air pushing past during a long fall, went through him. The adjournment of the hearing and the babbling noise as hundreds of people in the magically enlarged courtroom began speaking fell deaf on Harry's ears.

Several moments of panicky uncertainty passed before Harry realized that his part of the hearing was over...for now.

He looked around again at the incredible assortment of people seated around the perimeter of the room. The day before, when Harry first entered the courtroom, the huge number of witches and wizards in the vast audience stunned him. During his hearing the summer before he'd had the impression of three, maybe four rows of benches all around the room, but a quick glance into the audience now showed too many rows to count. Many of the adult witches and wizards that Harry knew, including most of the professors, had been given permission to join the courtroom audience, but Harry had only been able to pick out one or two recognizable faces during the last two days. He knew from lunchtime excursions to Mr. Weasley's office that even larger crowds stood outside the room standing three or four people deep along either edge of the corridors all the way back to the elevator. Still these crowds didn't bother Harry nearly as much as knowing that the entire hearing was being broadcast over the Wizarding Wireless Network. _That way everyone can enjoy the show,_ Harry thought bitterly not for the first time.

The moment the chairwitch had adjourned the hearing both Remus Lupin and Alastor Moody had moved to Harry's side. The presiding committee of the hearing also stood, but they were waiting for Harry to leave. Normally they had the privilege of leaving before anyone else, but security around Harry was so tight that exceptions were made. Harry reached out to grab the salad tongs Remus and Mad-Eye held out to him. Remus began counting down, "Three, Two, One..." Harry felt a familiar tug, and then they were standing in the front hall of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. Remus put out a hand to help Harry stay upright. Their arrival seemed to go unnoticed.

"Everyone else should be here by now," whispered Remus looking around.

After staying with the Dursleys only a few weeks, Harry, along with Hermione and Remus, had been invited to stay at the Weasleys and join in Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's 30th wedding anniversary celebration. The three had remained with the Weasley's after the celebration, then Sunday night Harry and Remus had relocated to Grimmauld Place. Since Professor Dumbledore felt sure that Harry would be in court at least two days, Hermione and the Weasleys had elected to stay the extra two days at the Burrow. _He was right again,_ thought Harry, _but also very wrong. I've got to go back, and Dumbledore never expected that._

"They arrived here just before lunch time," Moody told them. "Shacklebolt mentioned it to me. Your other two Ministry friends are here too, Longbottom and Lovegood." Harry nodded. He'd known that all six of them would be in the house. The Order hoped that by keeping the teens together that protecting them would be easier.

"I'm just going to go up to my room," Harry told Remus and Moody. "Rest before supper..." Remus nodded understandingly. Moody surprised Harry by squeezing his shoulder. _What is this? Pity from Mad-Eye?_ If he hadn't been so tired from testifying he might have turned around and asked. Instead he shrugged off the hand and walked away without saying anything.

Harry began climbing the stairs slowly. He tried to keep from thinking about the hearing, but memories kept popping up.

_"Mr. Potter, please tell us how you acquired the scars that are on your hand."_

"That doesn't have anything to do with this hearing," Harry answered back resentfully. "You don't need to know that. It happened long before the trip to the Ministry."

"Mr. Potter kindly do not tell us what we need to know! I will repeat my question...how did you get those scars?"

Much of the hearing had been like that. He hadn't wanted to answer most of their questions. Looks of reproach or pleading from Dumbledore hadn't helped any more than Chairwitch Bones' yelling or the disgruntled murmurings from the audience all around him. Harry's behavior had only changed when Remus stepped up behind him and gently put his hand on Harry's shoulder, whispering, "Go on, Harry. It's alright."

Harry was temporarily drawn out of his thoughts as he passed the drawing room and heard several voices talking and laughing. _How can they be having fun when they know I've been in court all day?_ But Harry held back. He wanted privacy more than anything else right now, so he walked past the doors and kept going up to his room.

Entering the room, he silently closed the door behind him. Ron was only half unpacked. His trunk looked like it exploded leaving a debris field extending several feet beyond the front of the trunk almost to Harry's bed. The only items Ron managed to put in their proper place were his Chudley Cannon posters. A third bed had been added to the room, and it now stood against the back wall under the window. _That must be for Neville._ Harry realized. _It will be strange to have two extra people around this summer. It will be stranger not to have Sirius here though._ Harry quickly shook his head to loose that thought. He stepped over Ron's clothes and books, before laying down on his bed.

As he had the last two days, Harry carefully avoided looking at Phineas Nigellus' painting. So far Harry had detected no movement or sound coming from the painting and he was glad.

Harry had had his share of bad days, and these last two had been more difficult then most. Testifying at the Ministry for the second day in a row had left Harry feeling raw and edgy on top of his usual anger. He knew his friends were wondering about the hearing, but Harry didn't feel up to telling them anything. The last two days at Grimmauld place had actually been nice. There hadn't been anyone to hover over him asking if he was all right every two minutes. Remus and Moody respected his silences and gave him space, and since he'd been too tired from testifying at the hearing to really think about Sirius, that hadn't been a problem so far either.

_What did it matter if he talked anyway?_ Harry often wondered. Hermione kept telling him that he needed to let out his feelings and not hold them all in, cry even. Harry didn't see the point in any of it. No one could solve his problems. No one had been able to get him out of testifying in front of the Wizengamot last summer or this summer. No one could bring Sirius back, and no one could find Bellatrix. No one could save Harry from Voldemort. No one ever could, and if they tried, they died. That was what it always came back to, his parents and Sirius died trying to save him. Harry felt an ache in back of his throat. He pressed his fists to his closed eyes until the feeling passed.

Harry's thoughts turned back to the hearing. On Sunday, Professor Dumbledore had told Harry everything he knew about the trial, but hearing about it still hadn't prepared Harry to deal with the real thing–a courtroom more like a stadium with him standing in the center ring. Throughout the two days of testifying Harry had wondered when the lions and gladiators might appear.

Reporters swarmed him whenever he left the courtroom. Their never-ending questions were like the pinpricks of a thousand needles reminding him of all of his mistakes. And now because of Chairwitch Bones' last announcement, the strain and worry would linger for weeks to come while Harry waited to find out if he would be tried too.

Harry closed his eyes, exhausted from the stress and worry. _One of my biggest messes yet, and I did it all to myself, my fault..._ the ache in his chest was growing. He turned and buried his face in his pillow. The guilt and despair he felt were sharp and painful, cutting through him. _Voldemort won't even have to lift a finger against me, he can just leave it to me to muck things up myself._ Harry laughed finding that funny in a way. He turned back over so that he was staring back up at the ceiling and closed his eyes with a sigh.

Remus came in later and woke Harry just before supper. "Feel better?" asked Remus. Harry shrugged. His problems went far beyond anything a nap could cure, and they both knew it. Remus tousled Harry's already messy hair, and they both smiled ruefully. Walking downstairs, Harry found his steps gradually slowing down. He didn't feel ready to face his friends. Looking around for anything that might distract him, Harry noticed one of the paintings looking at him. He'd never paid much attention to the other paintings on the ground floor since avoiding Mrs. Black's painting usually took all of his concentration.

"Weird collar," said Harry noticing the white ruffling collar. "The only person I know who wears something like that nearly had his head chopped off. So are you hiding something under your ruffles too?"

"Ignorant trespasser!" shouted the painting as Harry began to laugh. "This collar marks me as having lived in the greatest era of English History, under the greatest monarch this country has ever known, Queen Elizabeth! If you were only half as well educated as you ought to be, then you would have known that!"

Harry shrugged, "She's dead and so are you. I don't really care." Harry felt a touch of satisfaction as the insulted portrait sniffed and turned away.

Harry paused again in front of the painting of Mrs. Black. After their arrival Sunday evening, Remus explained to Harry that the house was now clean despite the dreariness of the furnishings and the dingy appearance of the walls.

Kreacher, Remus had also explained, had made magical history by being the first house elf ever sent to Azkaban Prison. _Even Hermione can't say that he didn't deserve it,_ thought Harry his temper smoldering. Dumbledore had pushed for a jury of Kreacher's peers to try him. Unfortunately there were very few public records regarding House Elves and no listing of their population. The old families weren't keen to share information on any House Elves they had, so unless something changed, the jury would be entirely made up of house elves from Hogwarts, fair or not.

Harry looked away from the feeble drapes and noticed Remus standing silently at the end of the hall waiting. Harry walked towards him.

The kitchen seemed bright after the darkness of the hallway and stairs. Harry stood on the first step outside of the room and blinked a few times while his eyes adjusted. They entered the kitchen just as Mrs. Weasley was putting the last of the food on the table. Only two empty seats remained and Harry was glad to see they were next to one another. Harry and Remus sat down.

The other five teenagers called out excited greetings, except Luna who sat quietly looking around with unfeigned interest. Despite being in an unfamiliar house, she appeared perfectly serene. Neville on the other hand kept shifting in his seat and was darting nervous looks all around. Harry looked around too. He noticed that Tonks, Fred, George, Bill and Mr. Weasley were smiling at Harry from their end of the table. Harry raised his hand giving them all a slight wave.

"Wotcher, Harry!" called Tonks.

"You did well today," Mr. Weasley told Harry. "Yesterday too." Harry raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"How did it go, Harry? What was it like?" asked Ginny.

"Did they ask you about..." began Ron, but Mrs. Weasley interrupted.

"Remember what Professor Dumbledore said," she reminded them. "You are not to talk about the trial amongst yourselves until it is all over." The others looked like they wanted to argue, but Harry was relieved. Finally a ruling from Dumbledore that he could agree with...

"You won't want to talk about it when you've testified," Harry told them. They looked at him in frank disbelief. Harry shrugged and suggested they change the subject. Mrs. Weasley nodded smiling at Harry benevolently. Harry looked down at his plate not wanting to acknowledge her look. He wasn't keeping quiet because of what Dumbledore said. He just didn't want to talk about it.

"So Luna and Neville, what do you think of the Black family home?" Harry said thinking he could change the subject himself. Neville shrugged still looking uneasy.

"It's quite thrilling," Luna replied.

"Thrilling?" Harry asked in surprise.

Certainly, I've never visited the home of a famous musician before," she answered.

"Uh, Luna," said Ron, "you have noticed there aren't any musical instruments around here, haven't you?"

"Yes, and I must tell daddy. Clearly Stubby Boardman didn't bring his music home with him...perhaps he was repressed?" Luna stared off into space considering this new aspect of Boardman's character.

"One of the books I ordered for you came by owl this morning, and just in time" said Hermione changing the subject. She handed him a small book she pulled from her pocket.

"You didn't need to get me a book, Hermione," Harry said.

"Of course I did," began Hermione, "we don't want..." She stopped herself mid-sentence looking worriedly at Harry.

Harry sighed. He looked down at the yellow cover of the book in his hand. On the front was a picture of a door set in a brick wall covered in flowering vines. He turned the book over to look at the back cover. A witch sat with her legs crossed. Her hands, the palms facing up with the middle finger and thumb touching, were resting on her knees. Her eyes were closed, and she seemed to be chanting something. Looking at the front again, Harry read Guide to the Inner Self by Ima Krior.

"It's about Occlumency," said Hermione hesitantly. "I was looking through it earlier today. There's a whole chapter in there about how anger can interfere with successful occlumency..."

Harry tensed up. He knew from experience what was next.

"You have to deal with your emotions, Harry," Hermione told him. "You can't keep it all inside of you or you'll burst."

"Yeah," interrupted George, "take it out on Ron instead."

"That's our tried and true method," agree Fred. Ron gave them both dirty looks, before looking back at Harry and Hermione.

"Leave him alone, Hermione," said Ron. "You've already lectured him enough. Telling him again doesn't help." Hermione looked unconvinced, but turned her attention back to her meal while the other conversations resumed. Harry felt the pressure in his chest slowly receding. Of course he knew she would try again later, but he was grateful for the reprieve. _She makes it sound easy,_ Harry thought not for the first time. _How do you keep from getting angry when everything about your life is just wrong?_

"What's that?" asked Remus nodding at the book still in Harry's hands. Harry gave the book to him. Remus flipped through the pages after browsing through the table of contents with eyebrows raised. "I guess great minds think alike..." Remus paused looking pained. He sighed deeply.

"Remus?" asked Harry. Remus gave Harry a rueful smile and handed him back his book.

"Sirius found a book about Occlumency in the family library. He was planning to give it to you this summer." Harry found himself blinking furiously. "I'd forgotten about it actually. I'll have to find it for you." Remus paused again with his eyes closed as though he were searching for the book mentally.

"It's older than this one. Sirius thought it probably belonged to his father, so I doubt there are any chapters called 'Yoga and Occlumency: The Twin Disciplines.' But... I think Sirius liked it. He was always writing in it..." Harry looked blankly at the book in his hands for a moment before slipping it into his pocket. He blinked several times and tried breathing more deeply to regain control of his emotions.

There were several conversations around the table, but after listening for several minutes Harry gave up trying to focus on one. All summer, he'd tried controlling his emotions, tried not getting so angry at everything, but then the little things would begin getting to him.

Neville was slurping his pumpkin juice, and suddenly it seemed like the world was full of the sloshing, sucking sound as Neville drank.

Except of course there was also the sound of Hermione and Ron's current "discussion" of chess.

Laughter came from the other end of the table, as Fred and George told Tonks about a shoplifter who'd dared to steal from Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes. Another time, another day Harry would have appreciated it all, joined in even–except for the slurping, but today it was like a scratching in his ears that he couldn't get away from. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair, biting his lip to keep from lashing out at all of them.

Like little bubbles in a glass of Butterbeer, his anger was always rising to the top where it inevitably burst. According to Hermione he chose to lash out far too frequently. She had no idea how often he did control himself. He wasn't going to tell her though as she'd only get upset and lecture him some more.

At the Dursley's it had been easy to deal with his anger–a dig here and there at Dudley had usually satisfied his agitation.

Since leaving Privet Drive, flying had helped take the edge off of his resentment and unhappiness. Straining his muscles with all of his might as he pulled his broom out of a dive seemed to ease the sense of helplessness that was always with him. But sometimes, before he could catch himself, he'd find himself adding a spiteful comment to one of Ron and Hermione's "discussions," and before long the two would begin really arguing. Harry always felt bad when that happened. He knew it wasn't fair to spread his bad temper, so then he tried even harder to control his emotions.

"You're very quiet," Remus commented softly, surprising Harry out of his thoughts. Harry looked at Remus thoughtfully wondering not for the first time, if he dared trust his father's old friend. Remus met Harry's searching look with patience. Finally after several moments of quiet, Harry turned back to his plate and began flicking his peas like Quaffles into his mashed potatoes. He decided to try.

"Remus, do you ever get so angry that you're not sure if you can control it?" Harry asked very quietly. He didn't want any of his friends to overhear.

Remus sat back against his chair, clearly thinking deeply before answering, "Yes, but not very often anymore." Remus paused seeming to think about what he'd said. "The things that make me angry don't change quickly, but as a member of the Order I can help them along. I've learned too that patience can often be surprisingly effective, but that's a lesson only experience teaches. Are you having problems with feeling angry?"

Harry looked at him, half-smiling and uncertain, not sure if Remus was being serious. From the way Hermione went on about it, he'd assumed that he'd made life miserable for just about everyone with his bad temper. Remus seemed serious though, and he wasn't smiling like he usually did when he was teasing someone.

"Sort of, and I'm worried that it will get worse," answered Harry. "We're going to be cooped up here together for the next three weeks, and I don't want to start getting angry all the time." Remus nodded in agreement.

"Yes, spending weeks in a confined space is always difficult, but then we have the added stress of the hearing... You're right. Short tempers will probably become quite a problem, and not just for you." Harry felt his heart lightening at these words. It hadn't occured to him that other people might be having similar feelings. "Maybe we should try to think of a project or activity that would keep us all busy," Remus said. Something clicked in Harry's head, a project.

Speaking loud enough for everyone to hear, Remus asked the six teenagers, "What's the status on summer homework?"

"Harry and I are done with everything but Potions," said Ron. Hermione gaped at him while Ron smiled smugly.

"Luna and I studied together before her trip to Sweden earlier this summer," explained Ginny. "We've finished everything except for History of Magic."

"I finished everything while I was still at home," said Hermione slowly. She was still in shock from Ron's pronouncement.

"I'm finished too," said Neville. "Gran always makes me do my homework first thing every summer." Remus nodded, thinking for a moment before responding.

"Harry and I were just thinking that we should come up with a project to keep us all occupied," began Remus.

"They can finish cleaning," Mrs. Weasely quickly inserted.

"Acually, the cleaning is finished. Sirius did that," said Remus. He looked down for a moment and drew in a ragged breath. "He wanted the house to be ready for Harry." Harry was careful not to make eye contact with anyone. He'd known this already, from his earlier conversation with Remus, but he still felt miserable knowing that things would have been different if Harry hadn't messed it all up. Feelings of guilt surged forward, but he quickly suppressed them focusing again on the discussion at hand.

"Well," said Mr. Weasley with forced cheerfulness, "this place could definitely use a new coat of paint." Several people at the table nodded in agreement.

"That's true," Remus agreed. "You should each finish your homework, and then afterwards, we could begin some kind of home re-decorating project. Even if we only finished one room, I think that would be a huge improvement."

"I wish you could do the hallway," said Mrs. Weasley tiredly. "I'm already sick of that woman screaming..." Mrs. Black's painting was being especially difficult since Sirius' death. Now that her son was gone, she wanted everyone else to go too. No one had been able to find the spell to remove her.

"Maybe that should be your project, Hermione," suggested Ron. "I bet you could find the sticking charm that keeps that hag up there." Harry cocked an eyebrow in surprise. That had almost sounded like flattery.

"Maybe," said Hermione with a slight blush, "but I would have to wait until the school year began again, when I could look in the school library."

"I believe Dumbledore has already asked Madame Pince to look through the library for countercurses," Remus told them. "She hasn't been able to find anything that works yet. Mrs. Black had a reputation as a charmist. She could possibly have created a new charm for the paintings..." The group was once again silent, discouraged.

"We could always paint around her though," said Ginny. Harry looked up in interest. "Something to really annoy her like hot pink."

"Or the Gryffindor colors," agreed Harry. Everyone laughed, and Ginny nodded with enthusiasm.

"We could decorate the whole house in Gryffindor colors and drive the whole family batty!" added Ron.

"Draw lions everywhere," said George.

"Sirius would have loved that," said Remus with a small, twisted smile.

"You could add a dog to the theme too," suggested Hermione. "You know, here and there, subtly, add in a picture of a black dog." Remus smiled at her his eyes twinkling.

"I like that idea, and I believe we're onto something here," said Remus. "Tonks, could you get some paint samples tomorrow when you go to Diagon Alley?"

"I'll get some home decorating magazines too," said Tonks. "You'll need more than a paint job to fix this place up." Suggestions and plans were tossed around until Remus finally said he and Harry would have to think about everything first. They decided not to begin the project for another week when the teenagers had finished testifying.

As they were going up to the drawing room after supper, the doorbell rang, and Mrs. Black's curtains flew open.

"TRESPASSERS! VILLAINS! THIEVES! FILTH!" she began screaming at them. Ron and Ginny each grabbed a curtain and began pulling them together. Neville and Hermione joined them trying to pull the two curtains together. Harry thought about helping them, but decided that he didn't care if she screamed, and so instead he stood next to Luna watching them.

"Hello, Mrs. Black!" called Luna pleasantly waving at the painting. "How are you this evening? Better than this morning, I hope?" Harry looked at Luna. He found himself smiling for the first time that day.

"Did she answer you before?" asked Harry curiously.

"Well, not exactly," Luna told him. "She didn't seem to be in a very good mood."

Harry laughed to himself. He noticed the painting of the man with the ruffled collar watching him, but when Harry turned to look at him more fully, the portrait turned away. Harry smirked and then paused staring back at the four struggling teenagers still wrestling with the drapes in front of the screaming painting. An idea suddenly came to him.

Ron and Ginny finally managed to get the drapes closed with both Hermione and Neville helping them. The other paintings complained about Mrs. Black's treatment until Ron waved his wand threateningly at them. Harry thought he saw the woman in the painting next to Mrs. Black, a grey-haired lady in an old fashioned dress, stick her tongue out at Ron, but when Harry turned back to look she was again busily waving her wand over her embroidery. Harry looked around at the other paintings in the hall curiously. He had never wondered before about any of them.

Bill had been slightly ahead of them earlier, so, once the curtains were closed, he opened the door. "Good evening, Professor Snape," he said in a cool, civil voice.

"This," enunciated Snape disdainfully while waving an envelope at Bill, "is for your father. See that he gets it!" Snape turned around with a swish of his robes and left. Bill closed the door gratefully after him.

"What is it?" asked George. He and Fred were standing on the stairs above everyone else.

"Just a letter probably about schedules during the hearing or something," said Bill with a chuckle. "I'll bet that's why he was in such a foul mood. He doesn't believe he should be used like a post owl."

"That's a foul mood?" said Fred in mock surprise. "I thought he seemed more cheerful than usual." Everyone laughed. Bill headed down to the kitchen where the other adults were still talking while Harry and his friends followed the twins upstairs. They went into the drawing room, the twins leading the way to the desk.

"Exploding Snap anyone?" asked George indicating a stack of six unopened decks of cards. Neville reached out a hand to take a deck, but Ginny grabbed his arm to hold him back.

"What have you done to them?" asked Ron suspiciously.

"Nothing yet," said Fred, "and that's the problem. We want to think of a way to improve on this game or even better to invent a new one that's loads more fun."

"We thought we might be able to come up with something if we just played around with the cards for awhile," explained George. "After all it was only after years of trying to use Zonko's inferior products that we realized we could do better."

No one moved to pick up a deck of cards. "So obviously," Fred told George, " a deck of cards that explodes at first contact would be a good place to start."

"Hmm...too predictable, maybe something that only sometimes explodes at first contact..." George added taking out a notepad and writing the idea down.

Still no one moved to pick up a deck of cards.

"We have them so well trained," George told Fred. Neville laughed. Everyone turned to look at him in surprise.

"What? It was funny," said Neville.

"Yes, it was," agreed Luna, "but not nearly as funny as Ronald's jokes." The twins didn't seem to know if she was serious, and Ron just looked embarrassed. After an awkward pause they went back to the original discussion.

"Honestly, these are just ordinary cards. If I open and shuffle them all, will that be good enough?"

Ron and Ginny looked at each other. They were both still suspicious, but they nodded in agreement. Ron answered, "We get to pick how many times you shuffle them and the way you do it."

"What? Is there more than one way to shuffle cards?" asked Fred innocently. Ginny just raised her eyebrows at him. The twins finally agreed and shuffled three decks apiece until Ron and Ginny were satisfied that the cards hadn't been tampered with.

Unfortunately George managed to burn off half of an eyebrow while shuffling two decks together. Ginny tried to appease him by saying that now the girls would be able to tell the two boys apart. This only began a heated debate between Fred and George as to which one was more likely to attract the most girls.

While their argument raged on, eveyone else grabbed a deck of cards. They had fun trying to think of different ways they might be able to use or improve on the cards.

Harry moved to the other side of the room pulling a chair up in front of the tapestry. He began flicking cards at the hideous cloth, thinking maybe it would catch fire if a card exploded on it, but not really caring either way.

Fred and George walked over to him after awhile and watched him flicking cards.

"What an original idea, Fred," said George. "I don't know why we didn't come up with that concept ourselves." Harry looked up at them with a smile. He'd been so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed them watching him.

"You're so right, George," said Fred. "Tapestry flicking is such a novel sport, and think of all the fun we missed out on at Hogwarts." George nodded in sad agreement. There were tapestries throughout the castle.

"Hey sit down for a moment," Harry requested still smiling. The twins looked at each other in surprise. Harry suddenly realized that they had come over to cheer him up. They assumed he'd been brooding again. He tried to shrug off his anger.

Fred and George quickly pulled up chairs sitting on either side of him.

"What can we do for you?" asked George.

"Need a supply of Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes to get you through the school year?" asked Fred.

"No," said Harry with a laugh. "Maybe later. I just wanted some advice."

"On the ladies, right? Well, first suggestion, avoid crying women," Fred told him. Harry blushed in embarrassment.

"Is there anyone who doesn't know about that?" asked Harry ruefully.

"Well, no one's told Percy," said George thoughtfully. Harry laughed uncertainly. He wasn't quite sure about Percy's status within his family, and Harry wasn't anxious to get into the middle of it, even for a joke.

"No, actually," began Harry quickly changing the subject, "I was wondering if you have any ideas on how I could...well, annoy someone?"

"Use a clipboard," the twins answered in unison.

"What?" asked Harry in surprise.

"In our experience, which you must understand is not only extensive but also widely varied," Fred told Harry, "a clipboard reduces the amount of time required to unhinge a bloke by at least fifty percent."

"And in Percy's case, make that seventy-five percent," added George. "So say for example, if it normally takes Malfoy one minute of taunting before he finally loses his temper, then you can be sure that with the correct application of a clipboard your work can be done in only 30 seconds."

"Or, in Percy's case, only fifteen seconds," Fred agreed.

"Anything else?" asked George benignly. Harry shook his head mutely unsure what they meant or if they were serious. George patted Harry on the head, and the twins went back to see what the others were doing. Harry realized he should probably have asked more questions, but instead he turned back to flicking the tapestry.

Just before the twins left that evening, Harry asked them where he could get a clipboard. They referred him to Mr. Weasley who was happy to give Harry one of his extras. Apparently Mr. Weasley had something of a collection of clipboards.

"A clipboard?" asked Mr. Weasley. "Yes, I actually have several upstairs. Dead useful they are. I just got a new one that has a small box underneath so you can store parchment in it. Muggles are such a clever bunch!" He quickly summoned a clipboard from his room and gave it to Harry. Harry thanked him, still wondering what he'd do with the thing.

Just before laying down, Harry noticed a book on his nightstand that hadn't been there before. _Probably another gift from Hermione,_ thought Harry tiredly. Deciding to look at the book in the morning, Harry took off his glasses and climbed into bed.

A/N About the hearing, on her website J.K.Rowling said, _"This theory has been put forward to explain why Harry does not spend as long in Privet Drive during this book as previous ones, but I am happy to say that he leaves the Dursleys early for a much pleasanter reason than a court case."_ I decided to interpret that literally, as in, a court case may not be the reason he leaves early, but that doesn't neccessarily mean he won't be involved in any kind of trial. In any case, I started writing this six months before she said that, so I decided to finish it anyway.


	2. Chapter 2, Part 1

1**Best Served Cold**

by LNLisa

Chapter Two- Wednesday, Part I

The next morning Harry woke up just as the sky was lightening. The night before he'd been too tired to put much effort into clearing his mind. Fortunately, there was enough dreamless sleep potion left in his system from the previous two nights that he didn't have any trouble sleeping. _I wish I could always be that lucky,_ he thought sighing.

Leaning up on one elbow, he reached over to grab his glasses from the night stand, but instead his hand landed on the book he'd noticed before going to sleep. He put it down on the bed beside him and found his glasses. Once he had his glasses on, he looked at the title of the book, The Cerebral Fortress,. Harry raised an eyebrow, this sounded a little more defensive then the book Hermione had given him. He noticed a paper sticking out of the book. Pulling it out, he read:

_Harry,_

_Sirius found this book for you. He wanted to help you with Occlumency. You'll notice he made several notes in the margins. He always did that. All of his school books–and our books too, if we were foolish enough to lend him one–were full of comments. We used to tease him that he even talked back to books. I guess it turned out to be a good habit after all. I hope this book is useful to you._

_Remus_

Harry put the book down blinking his eyes rapidly. He tried to imagine Sirius helping him with Occlumency. He would have laughed if he didn't feel so cheated. Harry couldn't imagine that Sirius, who always said exactly what he thought, would ever understand the idea of guarding his thoughts.

Harry sat up in his bed and turned so that his back was to the wall. He propped a pillow up behind him. The book Hermione had given him, Guide to the Inner Sanctum, sounded like it was all about feelings and dealing with emotions. He looked at the title of this book again, The Cerebral Fortress. He liked the title at least. A fortress sounded like exactly what he wanted, a safe place with strong walls and guards all around. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

Harry, opened the front cover of the book. On the flyleaf, Sirius had written,

_To Harry, _

_So you don't have to take any more lessons from that greasy git! _

–_Sirius _

Harry smiled bitterly. _It wasn't fair_, he started thinking. He was grinding his teeth, he realized. He always seemed to be so angry. Last year he had blamed it on Fudge and Umbridge, Voldemort, Snape, or whoever happened to be tormenting him that week. Now though...the anger just never seemed to go away.

He flipped to the table of contents wondering if this book had anything to say about anger. "Chapter Three: Anger and Occlumency," he read, "page 12." Harry turned to page 12. Sirius had written a note at the bottom of the page. Harry looked at it briefly, but he decided to read what the book had to say first.

Chapter Three: Anger and Occlumency

Occlumency requires full concentration of the mind, especially for the inexperienced. All one's mental faculties must be free and assessable to create the mental unity required for defense. An occlumens must always be calm and in control of emotion.

Anger, a reaction to stress, can create blocks in the mind, mental barriers. There are many ways to react to stress, for example by crying or making jokes. Unlike other reactions to stress, anger has many drawbacks.

Anger represses awareness of stress by focusing attention away from oneself. Often this involves blaming others and avoiding personal responsibility. By looking outward, one fails to take control of the emotional strain being felt and in essence hides from the cause of stress. This creates mental divisions which the legimens is easily able to exploit.

Understanding what anger is and learning to deal with pressure more effectively is therefore essential to the study of Occlumency. This chapter will discuss the reasons for anger as well as methods for coping with anger.

_So Harry, what this bloke is trying to say in 1000 scrolls or less is that ANGER IS BAD! I wonder if he ever met old Snivellus though? With such a perfect target, can anyone help getting angry?_

Harry laughed to himself as he read Sirius comment. He felt that same way about a lot of things. How could you help getting angry with Fudge bumbling around in the Ministry? Or when the only people you had to talk to for weeks were the Dursleys? Maybe he just needed to be more open about his anger, not hold it all in? Didn't Hermione keep telling him that he needed to talk more about what he was feeling? More and more he felt sure the plan he'd thought up the night before was a good one.

Harry put the Occlumency book back on his night stand and after a visit to the loo dressed for the day. He brought his clipboard, some parchment, and ink and quill downstairs with him and left them just inside the door of the dining room before continuing down to the kitchen. His feet slowed again as he approached the stairs to the basement. Hermione would be in there eating her breakfast now, he realized.

Monday had been the first day of the hearing. Harry had been the first witness. Now two days later, Hermione had to appear before the court. Ron testified on Thursday, and Ginny would follow on Friday. There would be a brief reprieve during the weekend, then on Monday, Neville testified. Luna would be the last of the six to testify on Tuesday. None of this was certain of course, but given that the teenagers were being kept out of the courtroom for security reasons until they were called on to testify, Dumbledore believed the Wizengamot would stick to that schedule.

_I didn't just drag them into the Ministry once, _thought Harry with bitter humor. _Because of me they'll have to go there twice._

After Harry's friends testified, the hearing would still go on for several more weeks during which many of the staff and students from Hogwarts, Order members, Ministry officials, and other witnesses would all testify. Even Cornelius Fudge had been called as a witness. The Death Eaters would each have their own trials once the hearing was concluded, and there they would be able to testify in their own behalf. The recorded testimonies from this hearing would be used to support or deny any claims they made. Dumbledore had explained that the Wizengamot hoped to keep the witnesses safe from Death Eater attacks by carefully reviewing and recording all of the evidence during this preliminary hearing.

Harry sighed sadly wishing once again to change the past before he finally took the stairs down to the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley had a small feast already set out on the table. Remus sat at the far end of the table reading a muggle newspaper and sipping tea. Hermione, who sat near the middle of the table, was chewing her food in an even and mechanical rhythm, a sure sign that she was feeling anxious.

"Nervous?" Harry asked sympathetically as he pulled out a chair between her and Remus. Hermione jumped with a start noticing Harry for the first time.

"Unbelievably," she answered. She stopped trying to eat and looked down at her still full plate with distaste. "What if I say something that gets you or Ron or someone else in trouble? There are so many ways this could all go wrong, and it's just so much pressure. How did you get through two days of it? Any advice?"

"No!" said Harry with a startled laugh. "You'll do far better without my help."

"Imagine that you are part of the Wizengamot," said Remus. Remus gave her a slight smile. "After all, you might be some day, so ask yourself what you would want to know."

"Far more than I intend to tell anyone today!" Hermione responded with a grin. The smile was fleeting though, "I imagine it's time to go..." Hermione stood looking toward the door.

"Hermione," Harry called as she walked towards the stairs. "You've faced a Mountain Troll, life sized chess pieces and poisonous riddles, and that was just our first year. You'll do fine. You're a real Gryffindor." Hermione with tears in her eyes ran back behind him and put her arms around Harry's shoulders giving him a grateful hug. Harry, who was still seated, reached awkwardly around and patted her arm trying to hug her back, "Good luck, Hermione."

"Thank you Harry, and thank you for being down here this morning," she told him. She stood up and began wiping the tears away with the sleeve of her robes until Remus gave her his handkerchief.

They heard a clatter of footsteps on the stairs then, and Mr. Weasley hurried into the room followed closely by Hermione's parents and a very annoyed looking Mad-Eye Moody.

"MUM! DAD!" Hermione yelled in surprise running over to give them each hugs. "I didn't know that you'd be here!"

"Hermione, you may be a very mature young woman, but you are still only sixteen years-old," said her mother sounding stern. "There is no way that we'd let you walk into a court of law without us standing right behind you and giving you our support."

Her father winked at her, "Even if you were fifty, we'd still be here."

"Oh Mum and Dad," Hermione whispered completely choked up and crying again. She lifted the handkerchief to her face again, but then jumped back in surprise looking at it.

"Uh, I put a self-drying, self-cleaning charm on it," Remus told her nodding at the handkerchief. "Feel free to keep that one."

"Very handy that," commented Mr. Granger. "I don't suppose you have one my wife could use?" Remus nodded with a smile pulling another out of his pocket and giving it to Mr. Granger.

"Pocket's charmed too, so I always have a fresh handkerchief." Harry couldn't help but smile as everyone started laughing. Remus seemed to blush before he shrugged, "My mum insisted that gentlemen should always have a clean hankie."

Mrs. Granger took the handkerchief her husband had handed her and helped Hermione wipe away her tears. Harry felt an ache in his chest. He thought of his parents and Sirius. He couldn't help but wish for that kind of support and love. He watched Hermione's parents each put an arm around Hermione's shoulders and whisper something in her ears.

Then suddenly Harry felt a hand squeezing his shoulder. Harry turned to look back, Remus was standing behind him watching the Grangers leave. Harry felt a strange feeling in his chest as he suddenly remembered Remus staying in that same spot behind him during most of the hearing. He smiling a little to himself turned his attention back to watch everyone leave. Mr. Weasley stuffed two pieces of toast in his mouth simultaneously while trying to kiss his wife's cheek and put pieces of fruit in his pockets.

"We need to leave now," Moody growled impatiently from the stairs. Mr. Weasley began nodding and hurrying out the door behind Moody.

Harry sat back down. Mrs. Weasley started talking, but Harry didn't listen. Instead he ate in silence wondering how Hermione's day would go. Since Dumbledore would not allow Harry and his friends to read the newspapers during the hearing, the twins were saving all of the issues of the Daily Prophet and the Quibbler until the hearing was over. Harry tried to imagine what the reports on his testimony had been like. Not very positive, he felt sure. Hermione would be better at testifying then him at least.

"Good morning," said Luna as she sailed into the room. She sat down next to Harry. Harry, Remus and Mrs. Weasley each returned her greeting. Luna noticed that Mrs. Weasley was still cooking at the stove.

"Mrs. Weasley, for breakfast this morning, I would like...scrambled eggs, toast with orange marmalade, a bowl of Cocoa Wands, pumpkin juice and a green apple." Luna smiled at Mrs. Weasley before she took a napkin off the table and gently laid it on her lap.

Harry, who had been drinking his pumpkin juice when Luna began her order, had to fight to keep from spitting his juice out all over the table.

"Luna," said Remus hastily intervening, "Mrs. Weasley usually just fixes everyone the same thing. If you want something else you'll have to make it yourself." Mrs. Weasley's eyes had narrowed when Luna gave her order, but at Remus suggestion they opened wide in fear.

"No, no, that's alright," said Mrs. Weasley hastily when Luna started to get out of her seat. "I'll make the scrambled eggs for you today. Pumpkin juice and toast are already on the table, and the cereal and apples are in the cupboard–you can get those for yourself, can't you dear?" Luna nodded. "In the future, dear, just tell me the night before what you want, and as long as it isn't too complicated I'll just make it for everyone–less dishes that way, you know." Luna smiled in agreement skipping over to the cupboard.

That resolved, Mrs. Weasley began scrambling the eggs with a sigh.

Ron was the next to enter the kitchen rubbing his empty stomach, he immediately spotted his mum at the stove.

"I'm starved! What are you cooking, mum?" he asked.

"Scrambled eggs, but these..." began Mrs. Weasley curtly.

"Great, I'll have some too," said Ron yawning before he took the skillet out of his mother's hands and dumped the scrambled eggs onto a plate. Ron never noticed his mother's angry stare as he walked back over to the table and sat across from Harry.

Harry watched as eventually each of the other residents of Number 12 Grimmauld Place made their way into the kitchen for breakfast. When at last Tonks joined them at the table, Harry asked, "Is there anyone else still sleeping?"

"No, dear," answered Mrs. Weasley.

"Mrs. Weasley, do you happen to know where a pair of scissors are?" Harry asked.

"In the drawer there," pointed Mrs. Weasley in surprise. "Make sure to put them back when you're done with them."

"Sure, and thanks," Harry hunted among the utensils before he found the scissors. He turned back in time to notice Remus and Ginny giving him suspicious looks. He gave them both his most innocent smile before leaving the room with a chuckle. Harry's smile grew at the thought of his Godfather's reaction to his plan. _Sirius would have liked this prank! _

"What's he up to?" asked Ron. Harry didn't hear the answer before he reached the top of the stairs.

He gathered his things out of the dining room and brought a chair out with him. He put his clipboard and things on the floor across from Mrs. Black's painting. As he straightened up, he noticed the Elizabethan Knight watching him. Harry gave him a friendly wave before he pushed the chair so that it was just in front of Mrs. Black's painting. Holding the scissors carefully in one hand, Harry climbed onto the chair. He stood for a minute staring at the curtains. He had to be careful how he did this so that Mrs. Black wouldn't realize what was happening.

Wishing he could use a sticking charm, Harry positioned himself to cut the drapes. He cut across the top of the left curtain first using his left elbow and forearm to hold the curtain to the wall. Then came the difficult part. Still holding up the left curtain with his left arm, he began hacking at the right curtain. He finally pulled a bit of the cloth under his foot to create a counter weight and steady the fabric. Harry breathed a sigh of relief as he finished cutting through the right curtain which he'd some how managed to keep up with his right elbow and wrist while he cut. He noticed a movement to his left and saw the knight watching him and looking horror-stricken. Harry closed his eyes hoping he'd done the right thing.

Slowly, he lowered the curtains from the wall. Mrs. Black had her back to him. She obviously hadn't noticed the fabric being let down. She was stabbing a pillow with a dagger and muttering to herself. _She really is mad_, thought Harry watching her for a moment or two. He let the curtains fall gently to the floor before gingerly climbing off the chair.

Harry carried the chair to the opposite side of the hallway and sat down. He picked up his clipboard and slipped on a piece of parchment. Then he opened his ink bottle and dipped his quill, but he didn't know what to do next.

He looked over at the Elizabethan Knight, who now wore a scornful expression. Some of the paintings were sleeping, and the only other painting that seemed to be watching him was the old lady who'd stuck her tongue out at Ron. Harry read the plaque under her name, Miss Josephina Black. He looked back at the Elizabethan Knight to read his plaque, Sir Sirius Reginaldo Black. Harry's eyes opened wide as he stared at Sir Sirius in surprise.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Ron asked incredulously. Harry looked back towards the stairs with a start. Ron and Ginny stood at the end of the hallway staring at Harry in amazement. Mrs. Black had spun around at the sound of Ron's voice, and now she was screaming.

"FILTH! SCUM! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! HALF-BLOODS! FREAKS!" Mrs. Black began yelling. Harry lifted his clipboard and began copying as many of the words she was saying as he could.

"WRETCHED BRATS! BY-PRODUCTS OF DIRT AND SLIME, YOU STAIN MY HOUSE WITH YOUR FOUL ODOUR! FILTHY BLOOD! TRESPASSERS!"

Ginny walked over looking at the clipboard. Touching Harry's shoulder to get his attention, she mouthed, "Fred and George?"

Harry nodded, and Ginny began to smile. She waved Ron over pointing out the clipboard to him. Ron's eyes widened in sudden understanding, and he too began to smile. Harry was furiously trying to keep up with the insults Mrs. Black was spewing at them.

"MUTANTS! FILTH! ABOMINATIONS! HOUSE BREAKERS! GET OUT VILE SWINE!"

Just then, Mrs. Weasley closely followed by Remus and Tonks came running into the hallway. They stopped in surprise when they saw Harry writing, and Ron and Ginny calmly watching him. Mrs. Weasley, after giving her children a confused look, stepped forward to pull the curtains closed. Finally, she noticed the shorn curtains on the floor below the painting.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?" yelled Mrs. Weasley. _She is almost as loud as Mrs. Black_, thought Harry.

"MOTHER OF FILTH AND SCUM!" Mrs. Black screamed insults at each of the three adults. "BLOOD TRAITOR AND MUTATING FREAK! AND YOU, WEREWOLF! YOU FERAL, NOXIOUS BEAST! GET OUT! THIEVES, ROBBERS, PLUNDERERS! FILTH!"

Ginny waved to get her mother's attention and then pointed out Harry's clipboard. Mrs. Weasley's confused expression didn't change. She started to say something to Harry, but whenever she opened her mouth the painting screamed louder and even more obnoxious insults.

Remus waved to get their attention and then pointed back to the stairs. The other four nodded in understanding, and Tonks led the group back to the kitchen. Remus walked just behind Harry and put up silencing charms in the hallway and the kitchen as they went. Everyone but Harry sat at the table once the charms were complete and the door to the stairs was closed. Neville, who hadn't come upstairs, watched them curiously, but Luna was working the crossword puzzle in Remus' muggle newspaper and didn't pay any attention to them.

"What happened?" Neville whispered to Ginny, but Mrs. Weasley interrupted before Ginny could answer.

"Now, will someone tell me just what is going on?" Mrs. Weasley asked crossly. Harry who had just put the scissors away, slowly turned around and faced them now.

"No one has been able to find the spell that will get that painting down," Harry told them. "But I'd bet galleons that the painting itself knows and could tell us if it...she wanted to get down."

"And how will you make it want to come down?" asked Remus.

"Outlast it, mock it, ignore it, or anything else I happen to think of," Harry said with a shrug. Remus gave him a surprised look. Harry sighed and quietly told him, "I thought it might even be a way for me to learn to control my temper better." Remus raised his eyebrows skeptically, and Ron snorted in disbelief.

"Oh this is going to be fun," Ron told Ginny, Neville and Luna. "Harry versus a painting, who can yell louder?" He put a finger to his chin as though giving the question serious thought. "I'll put three sickles down for Harry. Any takers?"

Harry reached over and hit Ron's shoulder lightly. Ron laughed, and Harry gave him an abashed look.

"You should have asked first," said Mrs. Weasley interrupting their by-play. "She'll scream all day and night with those curtains down!"

"I wonder if paintings get laryngitis?" Tonks asked curiously. Everyone laughed except for Mrs. Weasley and Luna.

"This isn't funny, Tonks, and don't you encourage them," she told him angrily. She turned to Harry and seemed to be about to speak, but then held back.

"About the screaming all night," began Harry before Mrs. Weasley decided what she wanted to say. "Fred and George mentioned that they would be coming back tonight for dinner, so I thought I would ask them to put silencing charms on all of the bedrooms and the drawing room." Harry was hoping that he would have to resort to using Fred and George, but after thinking about it, he realized, they at least wouldn't mind.

"You trust those two alone in your bedroom, Harry?" asked Ginny with a snort.

"I was going to follow them around," answered Harry making Ginny laugh even harder.

"Yeah, because watching them closely has ever stopped them," Ginny shook her head with a grin. "They love a challenge, and before you know it, you'll be locked in a cupboard, and they..." Ginny stopped short as she realized what she'd said. She looked at Harry nervously, and he quickly stared down at the floor. There was a moment of silence, then Ginny continued with new resolve, "You'll be locked in a cupboard and they'll put every embarrassing and uncomfortable hex they know on your room and the cupboard even with you sitting in it." Harry looked up in surprise and saw a challenge in Ginny's eyes. He stared at her in astonishment not knowing what to say or how to respond.

"I'll do the silencing charms," Remus quickly volunteered.

"I'll help," said Tonks her eyes twinkling merrily. Harry managed a weak smile to thank them.

"But why did you cut the drapes down?" asked Mrs. Weasley still upset. "Why not just tie them open?"

"For starters," Harry told her, "Mrs. Black can open her drapes, so it just makes sense that she could close them too. Tie backs might not be strong enough, and she'd enjoy annoying us while we figured out what worked and what didn't.

"The key to doing this," Harry told them, trying to put his thoughts into words, "is to make Mrs. Black believe the situation is permanent. She is trapped here in a prison she created for herself."

"Helpless," Luna startled him by adding. He hadn't realized that she was paying attention, but now he nodded appreciatively.

"That's it, helpless. All she can do is watch us and yell insults at us. She can't keep us from staying here. She can't stop the Order. She can't really do anything. Once she realizes that, maybe she won't want to be up there anymore." Harry thought about what he'd said. Hermione was so much better at explaining things than him. He looked up at everyone and shrugged, suddenly doubting his plan. "I had to cut the curtains down for it to seem permanent to her, but we could always buy new ones. The old ones were ugly and moth-eaten anyway. We were planning to redecorate, right?"

Harry looked around. The other four teenagers gave him encouraging smiles. Tonks was smiling to herself. Remus, however, was studying Harry thoughtfully.

"Harry, I don't think this is going to turn out the way you're expecting..." Remus began, and Harry suddenly felt a crushing weight as disappointment filled him. He'd counted on Remus' support, but then Remus continued, "Still, you may learn something in the process. In any case, I don't see that you're doing any harm by trying, and you are right. We can always buy new curtains."

Harry looked at Remus uncertainly. It wasn't a ringing endorsement like Harry had expected. Sirius, Harry was sure, would have been behind this project 100 percent. Remus had given his approval though. Harry wondered now what Remus thought he would learn. He turned and looked at Mrs. Weasley curious to hear what her reaction to Remus' pronouncement would be.

Mrs. Weasley sighed and sat down on the table wringing a dishtowel between her hands. "I still wish that you had asked first," she told Harry. "Everyone who lives in this house will have to deal with Mrs. Black now that the curtains are down." Harry felt a little guilty. "How long did you expect this project to take?"

"Until we leave for Hogwarts?" Harry answered tentatively.

"Three weeks...well, if I survived living with the twins for eighteen years, I suppose I can handle a few weeks of _her_ screaming." Mrs. Weasley finished glumly. Ron and Ginny whooped in delight.

"I'll hunt down all of Dad's extra clipboards," Ginny told them. "Neville and Luna, will you try to find spare parchment and quills, check the desk in the drawing room. Ron you can set up chairs for everyone while Harry keeps taking notes."

Ron nodded and turned towards the stairs. Harry was still standing by the cupboard, and Ron stopped in front of him when he noticed Harry's surprised expression.

"You didn't think we'd let you have all the fun, mate?" Ron asked with a chuckle. "Besides, you have no idea how to use a clipboard."

"What was I doing wrong?" Harry asked.

"Nothing, you just weren't doing anything right," Ginny answered. "You have to see Fred and George in action to really appreciate what we mean, but Ron and I will do our best to show you until this evening." Ginny led the other three teenagers up the stairs.

"Poor Percy," sighed Mrs. Weasley standing up from the table and collecting dirty dishes. She turned the water on waving her wand absentmindedly over the sink. "He can't even look at a clipboard without wincing."

"Good to know," said Tonks with a wicked grin. Remus chuckled before turning his attention back to his paper. "You know," said Tonks to no one in particular. "I think I may have something that could help them." Tonks stood quickly almost knocking her chair to the floor before she left the room.

Harry watched her go. Remus coughed a few times drawing Harry's attention. After watching Remus a minute, Harry realized that Remus was laughing at Luna's answers on the crossword puzzle. Harry smiled to himself thinking he'd have to read them later. He watched Mrs. Weasley as she stacked the now clean plates all the while humming to herself. He realized that, despite being back in Grimmauld Place, he wasn't entirely unhappy, and a lot of it was due to these two people.

He stood silently next to the cabinet for several more minutes trying to get his thoughts in order. Finally, he turned and faced Remus and Mrs. Weasley, "Uh, I just wanted to say...thanks, thanks for letting me do this."

A/N: Thanks so much for the lovely reviews! One reviewer asked how long this story would be. Right now it is six chapters (chapter two has two parts though) and then there is an epilogue. It's all written, but not all revised, so the number of chapters might change. Thanks again for reading!


	3. Chapter 2, Part 2

The Harry Potter characters and world are the sole property of JK Rowling. My thanks to her for letting me borrow them.

**Best Served Cold**

by LNLisa

Chapter Two- Wednesday, Part II

Tonks met Harry when he was still only halfway up the stairs. She held out a plastic bag with two small, yellow cylinders in it.

"Put these in your ears," Tonks told him. "They're Muggle earplugs-great for long boring meetings. With magical earplugs you couldn't hear a dragon roaring beside you. These muggle things just cut down on most of the noise. Depending on how tightly you put them in, you should still be able to hear what the old bat is screaming, but without getting a headache."

Harry looked at the foam cylinders, then tore open the package. He carefully pushed the earplugs into his ears. He looked up, and realized Tonks was saying something to him, but when he motioned to the earplugs with a shrug she only laughed before going the rest of the way down the stairs.

Harry was surprised when he came up the stairs into the hallway and found his friends already sitting in front of Mrs. Black. Harry stopped at the end of the hall watching them. Harry had always expected Ron to help him. He'd even thought that Hermione might join them, but he had never considered that the other three would help too. Yet, there they were.

Ron waved him over and patted the empty chair next to him; they'd left his original chair empty. Harry walked over and sat between Ron and Ginny. Then Ron handed Harry a clipboard.

Harry noticed that everyone else had clipboards too. He looked to see if they'd written anything yet.

Neville was studiously trying to copy down everything Mrs. Black said. The tip of his tongue was sticking out of his mouth the way it always did in their classes at Hogwarts. Ron had written a few words, but then he'd obviously gotten bored with it because he was flipping through a Quidditch magazine and his clipboard was on the floor. Ginny had made a list of words and phrases Mrs. Black was saying. Now and then she added tally marks, in between doodling around the edges of her parchment. Luna's eyes were closed and her lips were moving. She was tapping the arm of the chair with her fingers, but not in any rhythmic fashion. Harry noticed she seemed to be concentrating very hard on whatever she was thinking about. Harry smiled knowing that if he asked her what she was doing he wasn't likely to understand her answer.

_They actually want to be my friends,_ thought Harry watching them. _Why?_ He'd been so annoyed the night they went to the Ministry and the other three had insisted on joining him too. And since then, he'd felt so guilty whenever he thought of them.

_Why are they all here? Last June should have taught them what it means to be a friend to the "famous Harry Potter." They were all there with me that night, and because of it, they all have to testify at the hearing now._

Suddenly his thoughts went back to the day Dumbledore had broken the news of the hearing to Harry and his friends. _They were there that day too._

* * *

The garden of the Burrow had been crowded all day with friends and family who'd come to help celebrate Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's thirtieth wedding anniversary. Harry hadn't been surprised to find the adults who'd been invited were mostly Order members he'd seen at Grimmauld Place the summer before. Later he noticed Neville and his Gran were also there. He'd only noticed Luna a little while ago talking animatedly to Ginny, Bill and Fleur. In the back of his mind he'd wondered at the presence of the other two teenagers, but he was quickly distracted away from those half formed thoughts when Hestia Jones turned into a canary. 

His curious misgivings all came back though after he saw Mr. Weasley waving to him. He was standing next to Professor Dumbledore and Professor Lupin beside the backdoor to the Burrow, and none of them were smiling.

"Harry, Ron, Hermione, come over here, please," called Mr. Weasley.

As the trio walked towards the men, Harry noticed that Mrs. Weasley was walking towards them with Ginny, Luna Lovegood, Neville, and Mrs. Longbottom. Harry suddenly realized that today's party was more than a social event. Ron and Hermione seemed to notice something unusual too. They watched the approaching group suspiciously.

"Bill," Mr. Weasley waved his oldest son over. "Don't let anyone come in here." Bill nodded. The six teenagers and five adults went into the kitchen of the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley checked the living room locking the front door while Mr. Weasley ran lightly up the stairs. After they were both sure no one else was in the house, the group sat at the table.

Harry looked at his friends nervously. They each looked as surprised and worried as he felt.

"Mr. Potter, students..." began Professor Dumbledore with a very serious look on his face. "I apologize for interrupting the festivities this way.

"As you know, when you left the school grounds last June, many laws were broken," Harry began to argue, but Dumbledore held up a hand silencing him. "Please let me explain, Harry. I have a great deal to tell you today, all of you.

"A preliminary hearing will start in two weeks," said Dumbledore quietly. "It will be different from a trial, different even from other hearings where someone is accused of a crime and then must either found innocent or proven guilty, the purpose of this hearing is to establish the facts of the case and answer some key questions.

"You should understand that setting up this hearing had been an arduous process," Dumbledore told them with a sigh rubbing his forehead as though from remembered frustration. "Preparations began almost the moment you returned to my office at Hogwarts, Harry, but arranging the specifics have taken more than a month to work out. Many of the most important procedures and traditions of British Magical Law had to be considered. For example, since the six of you are minors and entitled to certain considerations, there have been extra delays while the Ministry and the school governors have worked out the best ways to conduct the hearing all while maintaining your rights and being true to justice.

"There has also been the problem of jurisdiction. The events at Hogwarts that night clearly fell under the supervision of the school governors, but unfortunately when you left school grounds you also passed out of their sphere of influence. The two events were, as I'm sure you'll agree, inextricably linked, so having two hearings didn't seem practical or wise. However, since the integrity of the entire Ministry has come into question, most felt that leaving the investigation to the Ministry would be a serious conflict of interest. As you can see, a normally involved process was hugely complicated by circumstance." Dumbledore paused steepling his fingers in front of his chin. He seemed to be waiting for something from Harry, but Harry just continued to stare at the floor. After a moment, Dumbledore continued sounding resigned.

"Some standard procedures have now been set aside for what we hope will be the most effective way to address all concerns–a hearing whose primary purpose is to investigate the facts and create a body of evidence for later trials. A committee combining both the Wizengamot and the school governors will be officiating."

Dumbledore paused for a moment taking in a deep breath before continuing. _Here comes the really bad news, _Harry thought. "I have excused myself from the proceedings because of my personal involvement. Amelia Bones has been elected as chairwitch." Harry looked at Dumbledore in dismay. He remembered the witch from his hearing the summer before, and she had seemed impartial. Still, Harry would have felt better knowing that Dumbledore was on the stand too.

"Mad," said Ron shaking his head. "This whole business sounds mad."

"Oh I don't know," said Harry his eyes lighting up with sudden bitterness. "It sounds like normal Ministry procedure to me… all messed up!" Ron and Ginny laughed while Dumbledore looked down without saying anything. Hermione gave them a sour look.

"Be that as it may, many good witches and wizards have worked tirelessly to make this hearing as fair as it could possibly be," Dumbledore quietly told them. Several of the adults who were listening in, including Mrs. Weasley, nodded in agreement. Harry's opinion didn't change though.

"There is one more thing I should tell you," said Dumbledore. "Because of the public accusations that Minister Fudge and the entire Ministry have withheld vital and lifesaving information, the hearing has been opened up to the public." Dumbledore paused when Hermione gasped in dismay. Harry was staring furiously out the window trying to control his breathing. "As I said earlier, normally because you are minors you would be given specific considerations—privacy is one such consideration." Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "But now, we are at war, and to ensure the safety of all participants, this hearing will be broadcast on the Wizarding Wireless Network in Britain as well as the Wireless Networks of several other countries."

Harry looked at Dumbledore in complete shock. If what the headmaster was saying was true, then Witches and Wizards throughout Britain and possibly even farther would know everything about him.

Suddenly a new thought occurred to Harry, _What will happen if the magical community turns against me like the students and the Daily Prophet did the year before? _

He jumped out of his seat and ran up to Ron's room before anyone could stop him. He slammed the door behind him feeling a certain satisfaction when the entire house shook at the impact.

_Let them all turn against me!_ Harry wanted to shout, but as he lay back on his cot even he couldn't deny that being shut out of the magical community would be a blow beyond bearing. He never fit in with Muggles. He'd found his true friends as a wizard, and now he couldn't imagine a life without magic.

* * *

Harry came back to the present with a jerk. 

Ron was waving a note in front of his face, it read, "What would you get if you crossed Mrs. Black with a Crumple-Horned Snorkack?" Harry looked up shaking his head and laughing.

Ron took the paper back and wrote, "I don't know either, but at least then we wouldn't have to look at her!" Ginny, who'd been reading over Harry's shoulder, snatched the parchment out of Ron's hands and quickly added a note. She then passed it back to Harry. Ron read over his other shoulder.

"What would you get if you crossed Mrs. Black and Gilderoy Lockheart?"

Harry shook his head again laughing.

"A much better looking painting!"

"Are these supposed to be funny?" Harry wrote. Ron and Ginny both shook their heads no.

"Okay," wrote Harry trying to think of another one. "What would you get if you if you crossed Mrs. Black with my cousin Dudley?"

Ron and Ginny grinned waiting.

"A really ugly pig!"

Ron and Ginny exchanged a look and then in silent agreement Ginny took the quill out of Harry's hands and Ron took the parchment.

Ron wrote, "Harry, maybe you better just watch for awhile." Ginny nodded in agreement. Harry laughed.

The five teenagers spent the morning taking turns copying down Mrs. Black's constantly streaming abuse, sending funny notes back and forth about the more amusing insults and placing bets on what the painting's next insult might be. Ginny was the first to realize that "FILTH!" was Mrs. Black's favourite jeer, and she won a dozen sickles before the others had all caught on.

Mrs. Black's painting was getting more and more aggravated with Harry and his friends as the morning passed. The last hour before lunch she alternated between sustained screaming and yelling a never ending litany of "FILTH! FILTH! FILTH!" Finally, when she noticed that they were timing the lengths of her screams, she stopped. After that, she took to pacing back and forth across her painting and muttering under her breath.

The group was actually quite cheerful as they went down to lunch. They could already tell that they were making progress. The painting was getting more and more annoyed, while they stayed completely calm and even jovial.

They helped Mrs. Weasley finish sandwiches and set the table. Remus joined them as they sat down.

"So how is it going?" Remus asked.

"Pretty good," said Ginny. "She is starting to get really angry with us."

"Filth is definitely her favourite word," said Ron. The others nodded in agreement. "We've been taking notes on what she's saying." Ron explained. Remus nodded.

"But what do we do with our notes?" asked Neville.

"There are certain words she always uses," said Harry thoughtfully. "She's not very creative."

"She only gets a 2.3," Luna said with a nod.

"What?" asked Harry.

"For her insults, she only gets a 2.3," answered Luna. Harry looked at her questioningly. "Her insult score," continued Luna as though this were the most obvious thing in the world. When their confused expressions didn't change, Luna sighed and began explaining.

"I always give people a score when they insult me, my mum taught me how. Michael Comer usually scores a 2.6, Pansy Parkinson a 3.2, and Draco Malfoy usually only earns a .8–he's really not very good at insulting people."

"So..." began Ginny with a look of growing comprehension, "the reason you stare at people for so long after they insult you is...because...you're doing the math and figuring out their score?"

"Yes," agreed Luna, "I'm not very good with Maths, so sometimes it takes me awhile." Everyone started laughing uproariously. Luna watched them calmly with a faintly puzzled air about her.

"That's so perfect!" Ginny exclaimed still laughing. "Did you know it drives Michael crazy when you do that? Serves him right, the silly prat..."

"Oh, and he's especially difficult–good words, but so repetitive. I have to add and then subtract...all in my head..." Luna shook her head sighing.

"That's brilliant, Luna," Harry told her. "Will you teach us how you score people?"

"It's simple really," she told them. "Half a point per syllable, and then minus .1 for each repetition. It's surprising really, that people don't get higher scores. I just think they don't put enough effort into it."

"Who has the highest score?" asked Ron.

"Professor Dumbledore!" said Luna with a laugh.

"Who did he insult?" Harry asked thinking he'd like to know what Dumbledore would say about someone like Fudge or Snape.

"Himself!" Luna screamed laughing hysterically now. The others around the table began laughing too.

They were finished with their lunch and about to return upstairs when Remus stopped them.

"Sitting in front of that painting all day is going to get tiring very quickly, and honestly, I'd rather you didn't sit there all day just listening to what she says." Mrs. Weasley nodded vigorously in agreement. "Why don't you take it in shifts?"

They nodded seeing reason behind this. They quickly decided to have two people in an hour long shift. Harry and Ron would take the first two spots.

The afternoon passed quickly. Ron had a gift for mental computation, and it wasn't long before the two were holding up spare bits of parchment for scorecards. Remus usually got at least a five point insult when he walked by, and Harry and Ron began taunting Mrs. Black in a contest to see who could get the higher rated insult. When Ginny joined them an hour into their shift, she brought down the Exploding Snap cards the twins had left the night before. The three took turns flicking the cards at Mrs. Black.

"Bullseye!" Ginny jumped up and started dancing in a circle. "My card hit her right on the nose! Did you see that? I got her on the nose!"

"ILL-BRED, MANNERLESS BRATS! FILTH! BY-PRODUCTS OF DIRT AND SCUM!"

"Seven points, Ginny," Harry called giving her a high five.

"That's nothing," said Ron. "Watch and I'll hit both of her ears! I bet I get at least a sixteen point insult for that!" Ron started flicking two cards at once with a look of great concentration on his face. The other two laughed while Mrs. Black kept shrieking.

"TRESPASSERS! YOU DARE MOCK ME! VILE, DISEASED MUTANTS!"

"You know," said Ginny, "I almost feel sorry for her."

"Just think of Sirius," Harry told her. "Think of the mother she should have been to him."

"Harry's right, and besides, Ginny, it's just a painting," Ron reminded her. "You didn't feel sorry for those Dark Objects we cleaned out of this place last summer. This painting is just one more thing that needs to be thrown out." Ginny nodded, and the three went back to their game.

When Luna came down for her shift, Harry and Ron went upstairs to join Neville. The three boys reviewed for Potions until it was Neville's turn to go downstairs.

"Wish me luck," said Neville.

"You won't need it," said Ginny who had just entered the room. "Luna can do all the talking. She has a natural talent for annoying the old bat!" Ginny grinned at them, and the boys laughed in return. Neville stepped out of the room, and Harry and Ron set out their pieces for Wizard's Chess.

Remus announced supper a little while later. The chairs in front of Mrs. Black's painting were already empty when they went downstairs. When the four entered the kitchen they found Fred and George were already seated along with Bill and Kingsley Shaklebolt. Harry noticed that Hermione hadn't yet returned from the hearing.

"We heard about your new summer project," said Fred.

"And we approve!" said George.

"We're even willing to give tips and suggestions," Fred added nodding.

"That would be great," said Harry with enthusiasm.

"A demonstration even, if you like," said George.

"Harry needs a demonstration," Ron told them. "He doesn't have the first idea on how to use a clipboard!" Harry gave Ron a dirty look, but Ron only shrugged. "Watch Fred and George. See if you don't agree."

"Poor Percy..." said Mrs. Weasley shaking her head as she set extra plates at the table. The Weasley children laughed unsympathetically earning a dirty look from their mother.

"How did this clipboard business begin?" asked Remus curiously.

"With Percy, of course," Fred told him.

"When he was about nine and we were seven, he got a hold of one of dad's spare clipboards..." George began, but he was interrupted by the arrival of Mad-Eye Moody, Hermione, Hermione's parents, and Mr. Weasley.

"What happened to the drapes in front of Mrs. Black?" Hermione demanded angrily as soon as she entered the room. She gave each of the twins accusing looks.

"Harry has started a little summer project," Fred answered her sweetly. Hermione swiftly turned around to stare accusingly at Harry who was sitting opposite Fred.

"What project?" she asked in a voice so quiet and angry that shivers went up and down Harry's spine. Before Harry could answer her question, George spoke up.

"He's going to convince Mrs. Black to come off the wall!"

"Convince her to come off the wall? Convince her to come off the wall? Convince HER to come off the wall?" Hermione's volume had increased with every question until she was shouting directly into Harry's face. "That is the most absurd...you call this a summer project...my parents have to listen to that kind of verbal abuse all because of some stupid, immature...SUMMER PROJECT?"

"Hermione, calm down," Ron told her. "Harry has a good reason..." Hermione turned and scowled furiously at Ron. He quickly stopped talking. Then she turned her attention back to Harry.

"Hermione," Mr. Granger said quietly placing his hand on Hermione's shoulders. "It's alright." Hermione's anger seemed to drop away from her, and her shoulders slumped in defeat.

"It's not all right," said Hermione almost in tears. "The things she said...you should never have had to hear that!"

"I'm so sorry," began Harry genuinely upset. "I never thought, never realized...I didn't mean for Mrs. Black to insult you too."

"Is she any nicer to you?" asked Mr. Granger.

"Well no...she isn't nice to anyone. That's why we're trying to get her down," Harry explained. Hermione looked ready for an angry retort, but her mother answered first.

"I think," Mrs. Granger told them, "that if all of you can ignore her, then we can too. "Hermione, calm down." Mr. Granger led Hermione to an empty chair next to George, and then he sat in the empty chair between Hermione and Fred.

"Arthur here tells me we've been invited to supper?" asked Mr. Granger.

"Oh yes," Mrs. Weasley nodded quickly. Mrs. Granger asked a question and the two women began discussing shortcuts to preparing meals for large groups of people.

Mr. Granger asked Fred about his and George's joke shop. Then he began telling Fred about the items for sale in a muggle joke shop.

"Why not just use real vomit?" Fred asked curiously.

Once both of her parents were involved in conversations, Hermione leaned forward and in a quiet voice that only Harry heard said, "We'll talk about this again later." Harry nodded in resignation.

The meal passed quickly. Afterwards Ron, Neville, Ginny and Luna decided to continue their game of Exploding Snap target practice. They climbed upstairs to the drawing room to get the cards they'd left there. Harry and Hermione were following behind the group, but when they passed the dinning room, Hermione grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him in after her.

"What's this project?" Hermione demanded once the door was closed.

"I'm sorry about that," Harry apologized. "I should have waited until tomorrow."

"Waited until tomorrow for what? Why did you cut down those drapes?" she asked.

"Because that painting needs to come down off the wall. It needed to come off last year," Harry said.

"And your plan is to let that thing insult every single person who walks by?" asked Hermione. "My parents didn't need to listen to that kind of abuse, especially after the way they were treated at the Ministry today!" Hermione stopped putting the heal of her palms to her eyes and taking deep breaths. Ron opened the door just then and stuck his head in. Harry waved him in. Ron closed the door behind him as he watched them both with concern.

"What happened at the Ministry? Were they rude to your parents?" asked Harry.

"What do you think happened?" asked Hermione putting her hands on her hips. "You know how most witches and wizards feel about muggle-borns. How do you think they'd react to seeing two _muggles_ in the Ministry of Magic?"

"Most witches and wizards don't feel that way," Ron told her.

"Really? I would never have guessed that after being at the hearing today!"

"I can't believe the Wizengamot was rude to your parents," Harry said in disgust.

"It was mostly just Fudge...and the reporters, and some of the people in the audience and in the hallways," Hermione told them, shoulders slumped as she leaned back against the wall. Hermione stared at her feet for a minute while the two boys watched her. "They came...they came to support _me_, and what happens? They get insulted, jeered at! It was so awful...and then we came back to that...that blasted painting!

"Harry, why are you doing this? Really?" asked Hermione. "Is it so important to get her off the wall?"

Harry thought carefully before answering her. "Part of this is for Sirius. Listening to that painting hurt him, maddened him. Like your parents, it was a case of insult after injury...just too much," Harry found he was trying to understand himself as he explained his reasons to Hermione. "But it's more than that. We have to get that painting off the wall for Remus." Harry looked down thinking about all of the support Remus had freely given him since Sirius death, of Sirius' last letter, and the pain he had often seen in Remus' eyes. "I won't let her mistreat Remus. He hates being here as much as I do, but he has to stay while we get to go back to Hogwarts.

"Besides," Harry smiled at his two best friends, "it's good practice for me, for Occlumency. You always say I need to talk about my feelings, and that book you bought me says I need to control my temper." Harry shrugged watching for their reaction.

It hit him then. What they thought of his actions mattered. When Ron had backed his decision earlier that day, it had strengthened Harry and made facing Mrs. Black much easier to do.

"I guess I should have talked to both of you first," Harry muttered sheepishly.

"Yeah, and make sure you ask us first next time you want to go to the loo," Ron answered. Harry and Hermione both laughed. Some of the pressure went out of the room. Ron smiled, proud of himself, but then he gave them both a more serious look.

"Harry, mate, you don't have to talk to us about every little thing you do..." Ron began. Hermione sputtered, "Little?" but Ron ignored her continuing on. "Putting up new drapes is easy. You thought this through first. That's good enough for me." Hermione nodded hesitantly.

"It's true, Harry," Said Hermione. "I didn't mean to question your judgment. I know I'm a little hard on you sometimes. You usually have good intentions...it's just coming back from that hearing...to her screams and insults, they were more than I expected. I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you though, so I'm sorry."

"My timing could have been better," Harry conceded. Hermione smiled gratefully.

"Of course Harry, when I said you need to talk about your feelings, yelling at a painting wasn't exactly what I had in mind," Hermione told them.

There was a knock on the door behind them, and Fred stuck his head in. "Is this a private snog session, or can anyone join in?"

"Oy! I forgot," said Ron. "Fred and George said they'd take the first shift, so if you want to watch them..."

"Of course they want to watch! Learn from the best, I always say," George, who'd stuck his head in next to Fred's, told them.

"We may not be at our best tonight though..." Fred told them.

"That's true," George agreed sadly. "It's all about interpersonal chemistry."

"We just haven't bonded with Mrs. Black like we have with Percy," Fred explained.

"That's why, Fred and I have already agreed," said George.

"At the first opportunity, we're willing to demonstrate with our preferred subject..."

"Percy," declared the twins. Harry and Ron laughed. Hermione gave them all a disapproving look.

Ron and Harry followed by Hermione joined the twins in the hallway. "Well, if nothing else, this should be interesting," Harry heard Hermione mutter to herself. The three joined Ginny, Neville and Luna on the stairs above Mrs. Black's painting so that she couldn't see anyone else but the twins.

"HORRID, DISEASED DEMONS!" Mrs. Black shrieked as the twins pulled two chairs forward. They sat side by side each holding a clipboard on their lap and a self inking quill in their hands.

Fred tisked, shaking his head as he wrote.

"A classic case," George told Fred in a hushed voice, which still managed to be loud enough for everyone to hear it.

Fred nodded his agreement, "Yes, but clearly more severe than most..."

"But surely, she's not too far gone..." began George sounding upset.

"I'm afraid she might be," Fred answered shaking his head sadly.

"But let's not give up hope yet," said Fred consolingly patting George on the shoulder. George nodded grimly clearly trying to pull himself together.

While the twins talked back and forth in loud whispers, Mrs. Black's insults came with gradually longer and longer pauses.

"FILTH...DEGENERATES...SCUM...FREAKS...FILTH..."

"Alright, we may as well get started. Note the severe discoloration," George said pointing. Mrs. Black reacted by looking all around her painting.

"Yes, I saw that first thing," Fred agreed. "But that doesn't concern me nearly as much as the cracking..."

"Ah yes, that is very bad, quite advanced given the age of the painting." George said nodding.

"I'M NOT CRACKING!" Mrs. Black screamed at them.

"Of course you're not cracking," Fred answered loudly in an overly sweet tone of voice. Then in an aside to George still loud enough to be heard, said, "The denial stage, clearly symptomatic."

"STOP WHISPERING ABOUT ME! YOU, YOU HORRID TWIN FREAKS! I KNOW YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT ME!"

"Paranoia as well. I'm afraid, it's getting worse!" Fred told George.

"At least she's rational enough to recognize that we're twins. There may be hope yet," George said, but Fred shook his head worriedly.

"Perhaps a closer inspection?" suggested Fred. The two approached the painting, each holding his clipboard in one hand and his wand in the other. Fred began tapping the frame, while George, who'd conjured a magnifying glass, inspected the surface of the painting. Harry and the others tiptoed further down the stairs near the front door. They wanted to get a better look at what the twins were doing.

"Infested, clearly," Fred said absently. Mrs. Black gasped in fright, rushing to the edge of the painting to look for herself. "Strange that it's only on the outer edge...she must have forgotten to charm this side." Fred tisked again shaking his head as he paused to write a note on his clipboard.

George nodded, "I wouldn't be surprised. Sloppy job, this. Do you see how the colours are bleeding together, and the fading..." George shook his head sadly.

"Alarming," agreed Fred.

George put his clipboard down on the chair behind him, and then moved until he was standing directly in front of the painting. "Maybe this will help," he told Fred.

George raised his wand and chanted,

"_Sunshine, daises, butter mellow,_

_Turn this ugly, fat bat yellow!"_

George waved his wand, and as they watched the painting suddenly took on a yellowish cast. Mrs. Black began screeching incoherently as though in pain. Fred quickly cast a silencing charm.

"That isn't a spell!" Ron burst out. "I tried it! It didn't work! You lied to me! That isn't a real spell!"

"You always said the yellow wrong," Fred replied calmly. "It's 'YEL-low.' You always say, 'yel-LOW.'" George nodded in agreement.

"Ron, you do have a slight problem with enunciation," Hermione added. Ron, whose face had been slowly turning redder and redder, now looked at Hermione in horror.

"I CAN'T TAKE THIS!" Ron yelled before running up the stairs.

Hermione ran after him, yelling, "Ron, it's a common problem! Nothing to be ashamed of..."

"Well done, George," said Fred watching Hermione chase Ron up the stairs.

"Yeah, I reckon it was worth the wait," said George. "Though six years is a long time."

"Mm, it's a shame that he doesn't stomp his feet anymore like he gets angry. That was always so much fun to watch," added Fred thoughtfully.

"Little Ronniekins is growing up," George agreed.

"What was that for then?" Ginny asked them.

"Oh, well back in second year," Fred began.

"More like, after second year," George said.

"We discovered little Ronnie had been in our room, going through our stash of Chocolate Frogs," Fred told them.

"We told him then that he'd be sorry," George said.

"We always keep our promises," finished Fred.

"And you've waited all these years to play this prank on him...for revenge?" asked Harry incredulously.

"Harry, Harry, Harry, you have so much to learn," Fred told him.

"Rule Number Three in the Weasley Twins' Guide to Life..." George quoted, "Revenge is a dish best served cold!"

A/N (I forgot to add this initially) The idea for the misuse of a clipboard came from a story by Jack Weyland.

A/N I'd like to thank all the people who've responded with reviews. They have been so helpful and encouraging. And while I'm thanking people, I'd really like to thank the people who beta for me Kari, andy, and the divas of ShouldersFree! Their advice has been so tremendously helpful, and this story has really improved because of their input and encouragement.


	4. Chapter 3

**Best Served Cold**

by LNLisa

Chapter Three

The next day Ron was set to testify. He woke early to get ready, which woke Harry. Ron looked distinctly uneasy as he told Harry, "Good Morning."

"You okay?" asked Harry. Ron shrugged half-heartedly. Harry watched him thoughtfully for a moment as Ron bent to pick up his rolled socks after dropping them for the third time.

"You'll do fine today...at the hearing," Harry told him quietly. Ron stopped trying to collect the rest of his clothes and turned to look at Harry.

"I could get you in trouble." Ron said as he turned half away.

"You couldn't tell them anything worse than what I've already said," Harry told him. "You weren't _aware_ for most of it, Ron, and I told them _everything_. Besides, wasn't it you who said I get away with everything?" Harry reminded him with a forced smile. Ron slowly smiled in return before gathering up the rest of his stuff to carry to the bathroom.

While Ron was in the shower, Harry decided to read his Occlumency book.

**What Is Anger?**

Anger is a response to stress. Behaviors associated with angeryelling, complaining, etc.often serve as a release from tension caused by stress. Anger may include denial, avoiding the reasons for stress. However, it does not resolve problems. Any benefit from the release of stress is temporary because the problem continues.

Anger can help ease emotional suffering for a short time, but the long-term costs can be very high. Loss of temper often prevents or wears away at the trust and intimacy required for meaningful relationships. Anger can also cause serious health problems over an extended period of time.

Anger is a habit, a conditioned response that at one point may have seemed beneficial. Like all habits, short tempers and the tendency toward anger can be unlearned. The mind can be reconditioned.

Anger is a choice that every person makes. Stress is part of the living experience. How one reacts to stress is up to the individual.

_This sounds like one of Lily's lectures. I can hear her now, "Sirius, no one made you do anything. Snape can't make you get angry. YOU losing your temper, and YOU hexing people was a choice that only YOU made." _

_I never really believed her. I mean when someone like Snivellus starts insulting you and your friends, how could anyone stay calm?_

Harry stopped reading, shocked that Sirius' question so closely mirrored his own. Then he thought of his mother. He'd admired her so much for standing up to her dad when he'd been harassing Snape, but here she had told Sirius the same sort of things Hermione kept telling him. Harry hadn't really believed Hermione either. Who was right?

_Maybe I should have listened. That was your mum though, smarter than most books. Still, I don't know. How do you keep from getting mad when you have so many reasons to be angry?_

_I don't know_, Harry thought.

Ron came in a few minutes later and together they went down to breakfast. Mrs. Weasley was already busy laying out the dishes and cereal. Remus, like the day before, was sitting at the far end dressed except for the slippers he wore on his feet in place of shoes and reading the newspaper.

"Good morning, dears," said Mrs. Weasley who was busy at the stove making something that resembled waffles. She had her usual apron on, but Harry noticed that the robes she was wearing were much nicer than what she normally wore.

"Ron make sure you eat enough for breakfast. It might be awhile before you get anything else to eat," Mrs. Wealsey told him.

"We'll get lunch, won't we?" asked Ron looking horror stricken. "They can't keep us from eating lunch, can they?"

"Of course we'll have lunch, but that might not be for six hours," answered Mrs. Weasley sounding annoyed.

"Six hours..." Ron mumbled to himself shaking his head. Harry watched him as he grabbed two plates and began filling both.

"So, Mrs. Weasley," Harry asked as he sat between Ron and Remus at the table and began filling a plate, "are you going too?"

"Yes, Professor McGonagall kindly volunteered to help Remus with the lot of you," she answered.

"We aren't little kids! We don't need babysitters," Harry said resentfully.

"Harry, you and your friends, we trust," Remus interrupted. "It's Voldemort and the Death Eaters that concern us. Having two people in the house that can legally perform magic is a safety measure only. It is in no way a reflection on any of you."

Harry wasn't sure how to respond. Remus had sounded so sure and honest that Harry found he couldn't disbelieve him. Harry turned back to his breakfast.

After a few minutes, to break the silence, Harry said, "I wonder what Professor McGonagall will think about our little project."

"Tell me what the project is, and I'll tell you what I think," Minerva McGonagall told him as she swept into the room. She stopped beside Harry and looked down at him with her eyebrows raised suspiciously. Harry found he couldn't meet her eyes. _I haven't done anything wrong_, Harry thought, _Have I?_

"Uh...how are you feeling?" Harry asked.

"I'm fine, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall answered stiffly. "What is this project? All I could see coming in were shorn drapes and a screaming Madella Black looking unnaturally yellow."

"Mawewwa?" asked Ron with his mouth still full of toast.

"You'll find it's much easier to talk, Mr. Weasley, if your mouth isn't already full," Professor McGonagall responded as she walked around the table to take the empty seat on the other side of Remus. "She and I were classmates at Hogwarts. Of course, she was in Slytherin house, while I was in Gryffindor."

"Were you friends?" Harry asked.

"No, we were not," said the Professor with pursed lips. "Is the inquisition over? You have yet to explain your project, Mr. Potter."

"Well," said Harry slowly, "We're going to convince Mrs. Black to tell us the charm that will get her off the wall."

The professor looked at Harry thoughtfully, "And how do you expect to do that?"

Ron started to say something despite having a mouth full of food, but no one could understand him. He was trying to swallow, before he repeated himself when Alastar Moody and Mr. Weasley entered the room.

"Arthur, we're leaving in two minutes whether you're ready or not!" Mad-Eye told him angrily.

Like the day before, Mr. Weasley had entered at an almost run and was grabbing toast and a glass of juice as he made his way over to kiss his wife's cheek.

"I'm going with you today, dear," Mrs. Weasley interrupted him before he could get crumbs on her cheek.

Mr. Weasely nodded trying to say something through the food in his mouth. He turned to get another sausage, but Ron, who had finished everything on his second plate, grabbed it first.

"Mmufrmm..." Mr. Weasley said scolding Ron.

"Burummfim..." whinned Ron holding up six fingers.

"There's more sausage over here," Remus told them pointing to a serving plate between Harry and himself. Both Weasley men dived for the plate with Ron falling into Harry's lap and Mr. Weasley splayed over the table only nearly missing Professor McGonagall.

"ARTHUR! RON!" Screamed Mrs. Weasley enraged.

"Thirty seconds," interrupted Moody. The Weasley men, with sausages in each hand hurriedly followed Moody up the stairs. Mrs. Weasley threw her apron on the table angrily still yelling at them as they headed up the stairs.

"DISGRACEFUL! YOU ACT LIKE YOU HAVEN'T EATEN IN YEARS! NEARLY KNOCKED MINERVA OVER!"

"You know, I remember watching Arthur when he was a student at Hogwarts and thinking no one else could be as ravenous at meal times," McGonagall told them a hint of amazement in her voice. "Then he had six sons."

Harry and Remus exchanged a smile. Remus went back to his Muggle newspaper. Professor McGonagall sipped pumpkin juice while staring absently at a plate of toast. She finally grabbed a slice spreading jam on it. Harry smiled to himself enjoying the moment of peace.

He was finishing the last of the food on his plate, when a sudden memory of Sirius sitting with him at the breakfast table came into his mind. Sirius' eyes had been constantly darting around as his hands went from place to place, planted first on his thighs, then roving through his hair, finally playing with his fork, but never resting. That Sirius would rather be up doing something or going somewhere had always been plainly evident.

Harry watched Remus as he read the newspaper in front of him. Harry suddenly realized that Remus' eyes weren't moving at all. He was staring at the page in front of him without reading it. Remus sighed then, and Harry wondered if Remus felt confined like Sirius had.

"Remus," asked Harry, "do you mind being stuck on babysitting duty? There must be something else more interesting that you could be doing. You could be in court today watching Ron testify, or I don't know..." Harry shrugged.

"No Harry," answered Remus after a surprised pause. "I would much rather be here with you and your friends than anywhere else. Besides I had quite enough of the hearing the two days I was there with you, and I still have to go back and testify myself." Remus shook his head at the thought. "No, I have no interest in watching the trial..."

"Hearing," corrected McGonagall.

Remus nodded, "Hearing, yes. As for the other things I might be doing, I can only think of several tedious chores I've been putting off for a reason. Staying here with you sounds much more enjoyable...it's funny, I was just remembering you as a baby, Harry. You were always up to something then tooinvestigating your mother's potted plants, which of course meant pulling the whole thing out, or trying to climb to new heights on the furniture. I remember bookcases were your favorite." Remus smiled putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Babysitting you has never been boring."

Harry couldn't keep the smile off his face as a deep sense of peace filled him. He liked hearing Remus talk about when he was a baby. He felt more connected to his parents and to Remus.

"And you, Professor McGonagall?" asked Harry. "Isn't there somewhere else you wouldn't rather be?"

"I volunteered actually. I'm hoping that without all of the usual distractions at Hogwarts, I'll be able to get a great deal of my work done. I've been looking forward to this all week.

"Now Mr. Potter, tell me, how do you plan to convince Mrs. Black to tell you the charm that's holding her to the wall?"

"Drive her mad," said Ginny casually as she and Hermione entered the kitchen.

"Good Morning Professor," chorused the two girls as they sat in empty chairs next to McGonagall.

"Harry's plan is actually quite sneaky," Ginny told Professor McGonagall. Harry blushed at the compliment.

"Yes," agreed Remus thoughtfully. "James and Sirius would have been proud. Though I doubt either of them could have pulled it off themselves."

"Why not?" asked Harry.

"Hmmm? Well, you see, they never could just let things go. No matter how many times we told them, they just couldn't ignore Snape's snide little comments. They always had to get in the last word."

"I seem to remember a certain Gryffindor getting upset a time or two after Draco Malfoy's snide comments," Professor McGonagall remarked giving Harry a pointed look. "Are you going to be able to ignore Mrs. Black's insults?"

"Yes, I think so," Harry said. "At least that's what I'm trying to work on. These Occlumency books I'm reading say you can't get angry all the time."

"That's very true, but I fail to see how…confronting Mrs. Black, if that's what you are doing, will help you or convince the painting to tell you that charm," said McGonagall.

"She's trapped, but she doesn't know it," Harry told her. "She thinks that by hanging up on that wall she is some how...I don't know...hurting us? We have to convince her that she's powerless. All she can do is watch us, which she obviously doesn't enjoy."

"Harry," McGonagall said after a pause, "the Madella Black I knew would have been happy even if the only thing she could do was make the people around her miserable. She was single minded in her determination to hurt others once she'd decided they offended her.

"Wounding her pride though...that may work, but I'm not sure." McGonagall studied him thoughtfully. "Her pride and her short temper were always her biggest stumbling blocks…

McGonagall studied Harry for a minute more before turning her attention to Remus, "Have silencing charms been placed on all of the rooms?" The professor asked briskly changing the subject.

"Yes, and there are several in the hallways as well."

"Where might I have the best chance of working uninterrupted for an extended period of time?"

"The dining room," answered Hermione promptly. "It's just above us. The drawing room has a table we use for studying, but we also sometimes play games in there or talk..."

"The dining room sounds imminently suitable," said the professor interrupting.

Luna came in shortly after that greeting the professor and telling her about her trip to Norway. Neville was the last to join them. He was rubbing sleep out of his eyes still wearing his pajamas when he suddenly noticed the professor. He immediately tripped on the slippers he was wearing and landed with his face on Professor McGonagall's shoes. Neville quickly got up scrambling around the table to sit next to Harry.

"Right, is that everyone?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"Yes," answered Remus.

"Good, we have some business to discuss," McGonagall informed them. "Molly has assured me that there would be plenty food to make sandwiches for lunch. If half of us clean up these breakfast dishes, then the other half can do the lunchtime cleaning. Any objections?"

"That sounds fine," answered Remus.

"I've already finished breakfast," said Harry collecting his plate and walking over to the sink. "I can get started with cleaning these dishes now."

"I'll help," said Remus. Remus carried the dirty dishes and cutlery over to the sink while Harry rolled up his sleeves and began washing. Once Remus had gathered all of the dirty dishes that were not still being used, he picked up a clean dishtowel and began drying the dishes Harry had cleaned. They were quickly finished which left only the plates on the table still needing to be cleaned.

"I'll get the rest, Harry," offered Ginny. "I'll sweep the floor too, so you can both go upstairs if you want to."

"Thanks," said Harry.

"No problem, it's a treat really," Ginny told them. "I usually get stuck with all the cleaning. Mum has to pull the boys into the kitchen kicking and screaming if she wants them to help. Asking me is just easier." Harry nodded understandingly.

Harry and Neville went upstairs to the drawing room where they began quizzing each other on common potion ingredients. Neville had surprised everyone, himself included, by getting an "E" in Potions. After a personal interview with Professor Snape, Mrs. Longbottom managed to convince the Potions Master that he should accept Neville into his NEWT level class. Neville was studying frantically as a result, worried about how Snape would treat him in class. Harry had already decided that his high score was the direct result of his friendship with Hermione. He too wanted to be prepared for Snape's class.

Harry quickly realized that Neville was already familiar with most of the herb-based potions, so they focused more on the animal-based potions. They had finished with dragons and moved on to magical compounds created from the skin of dugbogs when Ginny ran into the room.

"Harry, Neville, you've got to come out here and see this! Luna and Hermione are talking to Mrs. Black. Like Fred and George, only they're sincere! This is brilliant!" Harry and Neville quickly threw their books aside and followed Ginny out the door.

"HORRID FREAK! ODIOUS MUTANT FREAK!"

"You've said that before, Mrs. Black," Luna calmly replied. "Minus one tenth of a point. Maybe if you tried strange or weirdo or oddity or...?"

"SPAWN!"

"Oh wonderful, that's a new one," Luna congratulated the painting. Mrs. Black screamed in frustration.

"FILTH! SCUM! MUD-BLOOD! HALF-BREEDS! BLOOD TRAITORS! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

"Actually, you've never owned this house, so it isn't really your house," Hermione explained patiently. "The house was entailed, so that it could only pass directly from your husband to your son, Sirius. I'm not sure who he left the house to, but I'm sure he didn't leave it to a painting."

"IMPURITY! FILTH! MUD-BLOOD! SCUM! FILTH!"

"She really needs a thesaurus, doesn't she?" Hermione commented to Luna.

"I suggested that to her yesterday," answered Luna. Harry and Ginny exchanged a grin. Harry wouldn't ever have expected Luna and Hermione to make such a good team.

"I'll go get one," said Hermione standing. "If she has to yell at everyone, then she could at least be interesting. A four year old could think up better insults"

"That's not a fair comparison though," said Luna. "After all, four years old is the prime age for the creative use of insults. The only age that is better is eight and a quarter years old." Hermione gave Luna a puzzled look before moving to the end of the hallway.

Hermione gave Harry, Ginny and Neville a smile as she passed them on the stairs, but didn't stop. She was back a few minutes later with several extremely large books. The two girls immediately set to helping Mrs. Black improve her vocabulary.

Once Hermione and Luna began looking up synonyms for "filth," Harry and Neville decided to get back to their studying.

They worked quietly throughout the morning. Harry was finishing a list of the uses for Kneazle fur when Remus stuck his head in the room.

"Lunch," he told them. Harry and Neville gratefully put their books aside and followed him.

Hermione and Luna were still giving Mrs. Black suggestions when they reached the bottom of the stairs, "Maybe if you tried a synonym for blood..." Hermione flipped through the pages of her thesaurus.

"Or a different language," suggested Luna. "There's Babylonian, Leprecaunsh, Old English, Atlantian..."

"That's a good idea," said Hermione enthusiastically. "I have my Latin dictionary here, but my French dictionary is still upstairs." Hermione looked towards the stairs noticing Remus, Harry, Neville and Ginny for the first time. She smiled and started to say something, but Mrs. Black, who'd been strangely silent, interrupted first.

"QUIET! YOU INSUFFERABLE BRATS! I NEED NO HELP FROM YOU...YOU DISEASED EXTRATION OF FILTH!"

"Insufferable Brats! Three points! Luna, that's a new one, isn't it?" Hermione asked eagerly.

Luna looked down at their notes and shook her head. "No, she used that one over an hour ago."

"Oh, that's too bad, Mrs. Black. Keep trying though!"

"ODIOUS MUDBLOOD MAGGOT!"

"Three and a half!" Luna called out. "You're getting better already!"

"FILTH! SCUM! YOU MOCK ME! STOP THIS VILLANY AND GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

"No," Harry told her. He stood directly in front of her, almost nose to nose, and repeated himself, "No." Mrs. Black stopped screaming in surprise staring at him.

"No, we will not leave this house," Harry told her in a conversational tone of voice. "No, you will never get this house back. Someone else will always be here. Your little slave is gone now, and he'll never come back. Your life is over, everyone else has moved on. We will keep living here, keep working here, and everyday you'll have to watch us.

"You'll have to watch as we–purebloods, half-bloods, muggle-borns, half-giants, werewolves, and others–work to fight people like you. We'll never stop, not until Voldemort and his supporters are dead or in prison.

"If you had been half the mother you should have been, you'd be glad we're fighting against Voldemort. HE KILLED BOTH OF YOUR SONS!" Harry yelled. He tried to calm down before continuing, but he couldn't help the bitter laugh that accompanied his words, "Instead you curse and insult us!" Harry shook his head still trying to regain his composure.

"No more, you can't hide from the truth anymore. This pureblood madness has destroyed your family. Now, you will be our witness as we seek justice for your slain children. And then afterwards...

"Day in and day out you'll watch as we live in this house, meet in this house, have fun and enjoy our lives in this house. Because this house no longer belongs with the dark arts. This house belongs to me, and I intend to fill it with the people I love and all the good things in life.

"And you, Mrs. Black? You're stuck! You have no choice but to hang there up on that wall and watch." Harry waved a hand behind him. "You were right, they are mocking you. Get used to it! Your very existence is a mockery!"

Harry turned and walked away. Silently all of his friends fell into step behind him and turning their back on the painting.

Professor McGonagall, who'd been pulling food out for sandwiches, watched as they walked in silently, sitting down one by one. She raised her eyebrows in surprise at the serious group.

Ginny finally interrupted the silence, "That was brilliant Harry."

Harry smiled briefly at her but his attention was on Remus.

"You did well, Harry." Remus told him. "If I may make a small suggestion?" Harry nodded. "You should avoid the painting for the rest of the day. You were able to retain control of your temper, and that is at least half of the reason you won that argument. Mrs. Black will be looking for ways to upset you after this."

"What happened then?" asked Professor McGonagall. She handed Ginny the cutting board, a knife, and the lettuce and tomatoes she'd found. Remus took the loaf of bread and began buttering the slices.

Harry shrugged, "I told her we weren't leaving. She can't do anything now but watch us."

"Ginny and I can take a turn harassing her this afternoon," Neville volunteered looking at Ginny for confirmation. Ginny nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, it'll be fun!" she told them.

"I haven't sat in front of her all day," Harry said. "I feel bad that I started this project, and now I'm not doing my fair share."

"That's what happens when you're only a figurehead!" said Ginny cheekily. Harry grabbed a tomato slice from the cutting board and threw it at Ginny, but Professor McGonagall stopped the tomato in midflight.

"None of that!" She told them both crossly before bringing the pitcher of pumpkin juice to the table. Ginny stuck her tongue out at Harry making him laugh.

"You know," said Luna conversationally. "I don't think Mrs. Black is very happy. I thought at first she was just in a bad mood, but she hasn't been happy the whole time we've been here." The group stared at Luna in amazement.

"I don't know that's she's ever been happy," said Professor McGonagall thoughtfully.

"Have you known her long?" asked Ginny.

"Yes, I mentioned it to Harry earlier," said McGonagall. "She and I were at school together. In fact we rode the Hogwarts Express together that first year before we'd been sorted. That was the first and last time we ever had a civil conversation."

"What was she like then?" asked Harry thinking of his own first trip on the Hogwarts Express. He'd always been grateful that the first people he met at the station were the Weasely's.

"Determined," McGonagall answered. "She was determined to be someone, as she put it. She told us then, there were six of us first year girls in a compartment together, that someday she'd be rich and then she could wear fancy clothes and people would have to listen to her. We were overawed. She was amazingly beautiful even at eleven and so sure of herself." McGonagall shrugged.

"She always had groupies around her at Hogwarts including one of my cousins, Mary. In seventh year, Madella convinced Sirius' father, Caelum, that he'd be a fool not to marry her right away. We were very surprised she was interested in him. He was bookish for a Slytheryn and not in a good way. He was morose but arrogant too, while Madella had always been the life of any party demanding everyone's attention and devotion.

"Caelum and Mary had been a couple for three or four years before Madella turned her attention on Caelum. Mary was heartbroken. Caelum's mother didn't approve of Madella, but no one could stop him. His father had already died, and he would inherit his part of the family fortune at eighteen regardless of whom he married. They eloped right after graduation, and it was quite the scandal at the time.

"I didn't see them for many years, not until Sirius started school. By then Madella couldn't hide the lines of dissatisfaction on her face, and Caelum had all but retreated from everyone into his books. Mary always felt like she'd had a lucky escape in the end. She married a charming Muggle and had five children. They moved to America."

The group sat in silence.

It wasn't until everyone was eating that Harry realized Hermione hadn't said anything since they'd come downstairs. He looked over at her. She was chewing her food slowly staring at her plate. Harry opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong, but changed his mind before he said anything. Whatever she was thinking, he was sure she'd tell him about it later, and he'd rather not have so many witnesses when she did.

The rest of the afternoon passed quickly. Ginny and Neville had gotten bored with Mrs. Black, so they decided to abandon their post. Harry happily joined them as they started putting together a muggle jig-saw puzzle Hermione had brought with her to Grimmauld Place.

Remus went out for pizza from a muggle restaurant in the early evening. Ron returned just in time to grab an entire box for himself. Harry noticed though that he wasn't eating with his usual enthusiasm. Ron hadn't even commented on the strange Muggle food. He'd just started eating.

"They really grilled you, didn't they?" asked Harry quietly after leaning against the wall beside him.

Ron nodded. "It was unbelievable, mate. Ten people or more asking question after question. As soon as you go to answer one question, you get asked three more." Ron shook his head. "I don't know how they expected a bloke to answer the way they kept interrupting. Never even gave me a chance to think. I have no idea what I said. Though I did try to say something about the way they'd treated the Grangers, but I don't think they were really listening."

"Oh Ron, you didn't have to do that," Hermione said from the table. Harry noticed she had tears in her eyes. _Whatever happened yesterday must have been really bad._

"Course I did. It wasn't right what they'd done. I knew Harry would have said something if he'd been there. He wasn't though, so I knew it was up to me," Ron shrugged. Harry gave Ron a smile.

Hermione had been trying to hold in her snuffles, but at Ron's words she gave up and ran over to hug Ron.

Ron patted Hermione awkwardly on the back, but judging from the squeak Hermione made after the first pat, Harry guessed the pats were more like thumps. She quickly composed herself and returned to her seat at the table. Ron looked around before taking the empty seat between Ginny and Luna.

"I understand completely, Harry, why you'd want to start that project," Ron told Harry shaking his head. Hermione's head perked up that and she stared at them both. "Gotta say I wouldn't mind yelling at that old witch myself tonight."

"Wait until tomorrow," Ginny advised. "Harry made some progress today. Give her a chance to settle down first."

"You made some progress, Harry?" asked Ron between bites of his pizza.

"Ron, what did you mean by that?" Hemione interrupted. "Why do you understand Harry's reasons for starting his project?"

"Isn't it obvious?" asked Ron.

"No, not to me."

"You've testified already, Hermione," said Ron. "You know how...stuck you feel. Like when Mum catches you doing something you shouldn't, only this was worse cause now there's five Mum's all screaming at you." Ron shrugged his shoulders looking at Hermione. "Yelling at someone else, instead of always getting yelled at, will feel pretty good after being at that hearing today. That's all I meant."

Hermione looked down at her plate while she thought about what Ron had said. Finally she looked up and gave Harry a piercing stare, "Harry, do you feel like Ron? Is this all about lashing out at someone?"

"I explained yesterday. She needs to be off that wall."

Hermione didn't look convinced, but again she let the moment passed. Harry had a feeling that soon he'd be having a big conversation with Hermione.

The conversation moved on. Mr. Weasley and Mrs. Weasley seemed to be pleased with Ron's testimony. Mrs. Weasley patted Ron's shoulder each time she walked by. Then she made her husband's night when she commented, "those muggles have the right idea with this pittsa stuff. Quite easy to clean up." Everyone laughed out loud when Mr. Weasley hopped out of his chair and gave his wife a hug.

"Yes, they do," he told her kissing her cheek.

* * *

Harry woke early again the next morning. Phineus Nigellus was seated in a chair in his painting obviously waiting for Harry to acknowledge him, but Harry completely ignored him. Instead, after wrapping his blanket around his shoulders, he grabbed his Occlumency book and glasses and made a dash out of the room. After a brief visit to the loo, Harry went down into the drawing room. Turning on the lamp next to the sofa, Harry opened the book and began reading.

**What Motivates Anger?**

As stated previously, anger is a response to stress. There are many causes of stress, but those can be narrowed down into four categories.

Emotional pain stemming from how we deal with others to how we deal with ourselves. Problems of loneliness, fear, guilt, grief, and feelings of unworthiness fit into this category. All cause stress that can lead to anger.

Physical pain from illness or injury causes stress as the body tries to cope with the extra burden of trying to heal. Anxiety and worry may develop as the sufferer considers the nature of the illness and/or the likelihood of recovery.

Frustration creates stress. Frustration may develop when personal needs are not met. Feelings of powerlessness and dissatisfaction can also result in frustration.

The last stress factor is a feeling of being threatened. This threat may include a feeling of being attacked or abandoned. There may also be a feeling of being overwhelmed, of being asked to do more than possible.

Coping with stress is somewhat easier once the reasons for that stress are clear. There may be more than one reason for personal stress. In that case, it is important to discover each stess factor, so that they can be more easily dealt with.

_Hmmm...I just realized how stressful my life is. Emotional pain, yup. Frustration, yup, someone let me out of this place!. The feeling someone is out to get me? Try an entire government body! I need to tell Remus about this. If you count my stubbed toe, I suffer all four causes of stress! Now I know why I'm always so short tempered, and Remus just thought I lacked maturity. I've got to show this part to Remus..._

_So what about you, Harry? You have all of these stressors in your life too–wait, no, you haven't stubbed your toe, have you? So you only feel three kinds of frustration, no problem. All kidding aside, I wish I could do something more for you. There goes that frustration stress again. Never ends, does it? Well, keep reading. Maybe, eventually there'll be a useful suggestion...around here…somewhere…anywhere?_

Harry smiled ruefully. Sirius had a knack for getting to the heart of his problems. He always said exactly what Harry was thinking. A fierce longing for his godfather overwhelmed him temporarily. Harry focused on his breathing... in and out, in and out...until he was sure his eyes were tearless.

After returning his blanket and book to his room and getting dressed for the day all the while pointedly ignoring Phineas Nigellus, Harry went downstairs. Ginny and her parents were just leaving with Moody. Mr. Weasley had a plate of sausages in his hand and was eating them as quickly as he could.

Ginny gave Harry an apprehensive smile. Harry was surprised. She hadn't seemed at all nervous the day before.

"You'll do fine," Harry assured her quickly. Then, remembering his conversation with Ron the day before, he added, "I've told them everything I know. Nothing you say could be worse than what I've already said." Ginny nodded.

"It's just…I saw you go after Bellatrix," said Ginny.

"I've already told them about that," said Harry unable to meet her eyes. Ginny nodded and gave Harry a weak smile.

"Okay, then," she said taking a deep breath. She hugged Remus and then Harry before following her mother up the stairs.

Harry sat in his usual seat next to Remus.

"Ginny didn't seem nervous at all yesterday," commented Harry still looking towards the stairs.

"Hmmm? No, she wouldn't have. She holds her feelings deep, deep down inside of her. In fact, she's quite a bit like someone else I know," Harry turned to find Remus smiling at him. Harry smiled ruefully. "She'll be fine, Harry." Harry nodded grabbing the nearest plate of food.

"So is our other minder late today?" asked Harry.

"Tonks is still sleeping upstairs," answered Remus sounding amused behind his paper. "As she put it, 'These kids can defend themselves. As long as I'm here in case of an emergency it doesn't matter if I'm conscious or not.'"

Harry nodded. He realized suddenly how unusual it was for Remus and him to be alone together. Thinking that at any moment someone might come down the stairs spurred Harry into saying something.

"Sirius mentions you in that book you gave me," Harry found himself saying.

"Oh?" asked Remus with a smile. "What did he have to say?"

"Uh...well the book was talking about frustration, and how if you're really frustrated you'll get angry a lot. Sirius said he should tell you about that so you'd know why he was always short tempered..." Harry answered.

Remus smiled wryly, "Ah, but even when his life was running smoothly, Sirius had a short temper. It's true though. I should have been more patient with him..." Remus sighed sadly with his head bent down. "I wasn't the friend I should have been to him."

"I think you were," said Harry. "I mean he needed you. Hermione, she's always bossing me and Ron around, and we act like it bothers us because...well, she'd be worse if we didn't. Really though, she helps us a lot, and I know I can trust her. I can trust her even when I can't trust..." Harry stopped talking, afraid to finish. Taking a deep breath, he continued, "even when I can't trust myself.

"We all need friends like that, and you were that kind of friend to Sirius," finished Harry. He looked up to find tears in Remus' eyes. Suddenly Remus reached forward, and grabbed Harry around the shoulders pulling him into a fierce hug.

"Thank you, Harry. You amaze me every day," Remus whispered into his hair. Harry wrapped his arms around Remus and hugged him back. Neither said anything for several minutes. When they finally pulled away, Harry thought he saw Remus wiping his cheeks with a handkerchief.

"You need to teach me the charm for those handkerchiefs," said Harry trying to change the subject. "Would have come in handy last year."

"Ah yes, the famous crying kiss," said Remus with a teasing smile.

"Does everyone know about that?" asked Harry just as Hermione bustled in with Ron behind her.

"Good morning, Remus, Harry," Hermione shouted sounding almost perky.

Harry raised his eyebrows when he noticed Hermione's red-rimmed eyes. Ron shook his head and mouthed, "Don't ask!"

The morning went much the same as the one before. Harry and Remus cleaned up after the rest of the teenagers finished eating. Tonks still hadn't made an appearance by the time they were finished.

Ron set up his chair in front of Mrs. Black's painting, so Harry and Hermione sat on either side of him.

"FILTH!"

"Hag!" shouted Ron.

"BLOOD-TRAITOR!"

"Ugly, old bat!"

"MUD-BLOOD LOVER!"

"I don't really mind that one actually," said Ron. Harry laughed, but Hermione just shook her head in annoyance.

"Are you planning to spend your entire morning just trading insults with that thing?" Hermione finally asked in exasperation.

"Yup," answered Ron. Hermione stood up with a huff and marched up the stairs. Harry and Ron managed to wait for her to leave before they started laughing.

"She's right though, you know, this is rather boring," said Ron. Harry nodded in agreement.

"Too bad my chess set is up in the drawing room."

"We could play exploding snap," Harry suggested. Ron nodded. The two decided they could play more easily in the dining room, so they moved out of the hallway.

"So what was Hermione crying about this morning?" Harry asked.

Ron rolled his eyes, "I couldn't hardly make it out with all of her snuffling. Were you and Remus having some kind of serious talk this morning?"

"Yeah, sort of," said Harry uneasily.

"Well, I reckon she heard part of it. Something about her making us do more if we didn't complain? I really didn't catch all of it. Next time, get Remus to put up some kind of imperturbable charm, okay. Dealing with a weepy girl so early in the morning, when all you want is some breakfast, is really too much." Harry nodded in agreement.

They continued playing until Hermione discovered them in the dining room about mid morning.

"We were just taking a break, Hermione," said Ron plaintatively as he followed her into the hallway. "See here, I'm finished with my break, I'm ready to take up my post now."

"Ron, I want to see all of this homework you and Harry have supposedly done, and I want to know what the two of you are up to," she told them in her bossiest tone.

Ron turned to Harry, who'd sat next to him, and whispered angrily, "See what you've done? She'll be worse now then she ever was before!" Harry shrugged.

"Come on, you two!" said Hermione once she realized they weren't following her.

Remus had been coming up from the kitchen when they came out of the dining room. When the doorbell rang he walked past them to answer it, pausing briefly to put a muting charm on Mrs. Black.

Even with the charm on the painting Harry could still make out what Mrs. Black was screaming, and he was surprised that when Mrs. Black saw Professor Snape she began cursing the potions master with special vindictiveness.

"SHAME OF SLYTHERIN! BLOOD TRAITOR! CURSED FOOL!"

"What is this nonsense?" demanded Snape angrily once he noticed Ron and Harry sitting in front of the painting. He looked down his nose at them scornfully, and all at once Harry remembered Snape giving the same look to Sirius the summer before.

"Mrs. Black, what was that you were saying?" Harry asked. "Tut tut! You know you shouldn't call Professor Snape the Shame of Slytherin and a greasy git who deserves to be cursed." Ron began coughing rather loudly, while Hermione just gaped at Harry in open-mouthed horror. Harry looked at Remus quickly and noticed his lips were twitching.

Snape looked ready to hex the three of them, but with Remus standing behind him there wasn't much he could do.

Remus managed to pull it together enough to usher Snape into the dining room before the Professor could retaliate.

"That was brilliant, Harry!" said Ron laughing.

"It won't seem so brilliant come September when Harry is stuck in Professor Snape's classroom for the next ten months," Hermione told them.

"It'll be worth it," said Harry. Hermione sniffed disdainfully before sitting in the empty chair next to Ron.

The three waited quietly. Harry put his head back against the wall hoping he would be able to hear something through the wall, but no sound came through.

He gave up on the wall and noticed that Phineas Nigellus was visiting the painting of the Elizabethan Knight. The two were whispering and pointing towards Harry and Mrs. Black. Harry turned his head to the side so that he wouldn't have to look at them. Hermione had been watching him. He gave her a questioning look, but she only shrugged her shoulders in return.

A few minutes later the door to the dining room opened and the two men stepped out. Harry noticed immediately how drawn Remus looked. _Snape's news must have been bad,_ thought Harry.

Snape turned a glare on the three teenagers. "Congratulations! I think you've finally found the perfect occupation for yourselves. I can't think of any three people more likely to annoy and irritate than..."

"There was an old bat, named Mrs. Black, tra-lala-la-la!

Once head of this pure-blood family, tra-lala-la-la!

Now she's a cracking, mad painting, tra-lala-la-la!

Stuck on the wall, angry, angry angry, tra-lala-la-la!

"Oh hello Professor Snape!" Luna called cheerfully once she reached the bottom of the stairs. "I've been wanting to talk to you. Have you seen the latest issue of the Quibbler?" Snape shook his head mutely. "Well, it only came out last week, so I expect you haven't had time.

"Shevu Toofue has invented a new hair tonic potion espcially for people with greasy hair like yours. After only three days' use your hair will be as soft and smooth as silk. Even better though, she says the ends will curl up just like a baby's hair does. Oh Professor, you really should try it. You'd look so much more handsome with a little curl at the ends of your hair!" Luna put a finger to her lips but then shook her head regretfully.

"If I had time I could go upstairs and get my copy of the Quibbler, but it's my turn to annoy Mrs. Black. Unless...would you like to help? I'm sure you're very good at annoying people. We could sing my song together. It has sixteen verses." Luna smiled sweetly at the professor waiting for his answer.

Snape stared at her in total consternation. His mouth moved but no sound came out. Finally, he turned and practically ran out the door slamming it closed behind him.

Luna looked surprised when the other four people in the hallway suddenly began laughing hysterically.

"Luna," said Remus once he'd calmed down enough to talk. "I'm glad that your father let you join us. It has been a real delight having you in the house this summer.

Ginny had returned a little before dinner and gone up to her room to rest before joining them downstairs in the kitchen. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were obviously tired, but Harry noticed they both were smiling more often than they had the week before. He thought they were probably relieved that their children's involvement in the hearing was now over.

Luna was going to testify Monday. She didn't seem nervous about it from what Harry could see. Neville who had to testify on Tuesday had already asked several questions and seemed to get a little more nervous each day.

The night before while the three boys were getting ready for bed, Neville had asked, "Do they lock you in that chair? Do you have to answer every question? Do they ask you personal questions? Like, is there a girl you like?"

At this, Ron and Harry stopped tossing around the rolled up pair of socks and turned to stare at Neville.

"What girl do you like?" Ron asked.

"Uh...um...no one, so they're going to ask that?" Neville looked horrified at the thought.

"No," Harry answered. "Why would they? They only ask questions that have something to do with the case."

"Oh," said Neville with a relieved sigh.

That evening most of the Weasley family joined them for dinner. Bill and the twins had stopped at a Fish and Chips shop, and they bought more than enough food for everyone.

At dinner Fred and George asked about Harry's summer project. Harry told them about all the things that had happened, including Hermione and Luna's attempts to be helpful.

"I'm surprised at you, Hermione," said Fred with an admiring smile.

"Don't the screams and insults disturb your studying?" asked George.

"Actually," said Hermione with a slight blush. "I'm getting more done than usual. The silencing charms on all the rooms really help cut down on distractions, and with Harry and Ron busy..." Hermione shrugged. Fred and George laughed at Harry and Ron's surprised expressions.

"Distractions! Is that all we are to you, Hermione?" asked Ron with mock severity.

"Well, it is easier for me to study when the two of you are not around," answered Hermione defensively. She was startled when the four boys all began laughing.

"What I'm wondering," said Mrs. Weasley interrupting, "Are Ron and Harry getting their studies done?"

"We're finished," Harry and Ron said together giving each other proud smiles. Silence was the only response.

"What are you two up to?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"Nothing, Mum," said Ron. "Why do you always have to be so suspicious?"

"Because I'm a mother to seven children. What are you up to?"

"I'm doing my homework is all," answered Ron impatiently. "I would think you'd be proud of me."

"Well, you do have a point there," said Mrs. Weasley consideringly. "After all, you can't really get into trouble if you're doing your homework, can you?" Mrs. Weasley nooded to herself before moving to the other end of the table.

"Of course," said George leaning forward to speak in a whisper, "she forgot that you can get into trouble if you've already done you're homework."

"Which reminds us," whispered Fred, "Katie Bell came by the other day. She told us about a very interesting letter the two of you had written her." Harry and Ron exchanged uneasy glances.

"What really surprised her was that neither of you mentioned Quidditch once," George told them.

"Well, whatever the two of you are up to," said Fred.

"We approve," said George. "If you need some Weasley Wizarding Wheezes to help you pull it off, we're even willing to give you a thirty percent discount."

Fred and George gave them knowing smiles before asking Bill about exchange rates at Gringotts. Harry turned to find Hermione glaring at both him and Ron.

"We want to be Aurors," Harry told Hermione before she could start questioning him. "We have to get high marks for that." Hermione gave them a considering look.

"It's true," added Ron. She gave them one last suspicious look, before she turned her attention back to her meal. Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

He was surprised when he looked up to see both Remus and Ginny giving them knowing looks. He'd been so busying trying to appease Hermione that he hadn't noticed any onlookers.

"You know Ginny," said Remus in a falsely cheerful tone of voice, "I remember a time when James thought he'd come up with the perfect plan..."

"Oh really," said Ginny in a similar tone of voice. "Did it involve getting a lot of homework done early to get it out of the way?"

"Yes, I believe it was something along those lines."

"How very interesting."

Harry gave them each a weak smile. They returned it with a smirk before turning their attention to Luna's description of Snorkack mating rituals.

"Snape had some interesting information to pass along this afternoon," Remus said once all but Ron had finished eating. "I firecalled Dumbledore, and he's set a meeting for tomorrow afternoon." The teenagers worriedly looked back and forth between Remus and the senior Weasleys.

The twins did a repeat of their clipboard performance for Tonks, who quickly joined in. By the time everyone was ready to say goodnight, Mrs. Black was sporting red and lavender stripes with yellow splotches that still doted across the canvas.

As Harry walked into his bedroom that night he noticed he'd been smiling. He realized with a start that he was enjoying himself.

As he was getting dressed for bed, he began his Occlumency exercises. So far since he'd been at Grimmauld Place, his scar had only twinged a few times each day and night, but nothing severe. Still Harry didn't want to take the chance of a nightmare, so he always tried to empty his mind before sleep. He'd told Dumbledore in his office that he could have learned Occlumency if he'd wanted to. Still Harry had surprised himself by being right. He pulled his glasses off his nose putting them on his night table before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 4

Best Served Cold

by LNLisa

Chapter Four

The night before Harry had hoped to sleep in since it was Saturday and nothing interesting would be happening until the other Order members showed up in the afternoon, but once morning came he was annoyed to find himself waking up at the usual time. Giving up on sleep he pushed the pillows against the wall before grabbing his glasses and his Occlumency book off the nightstand. With a sigh he opened the book.

****

Why Do We Choose Anger?

Under the title Sirius had drawn an arrow pointing to a note in the Margin.

_Because of greasy gits like Snivellus, didn't we establish that already?_

Harry laughed. He wondered briefly what Sirius would have thought about Harry's performance in front of Snape yesterday. _He would have approved, definitely!_ Harry thought with a laugh. _He would have even sung with Luna._ Harry spent a minute imagining that silliness before he turned back to his book with the smile still on his face.

**Why Do We Choose Anger?**

Many people have the pre-disposition to react to stress with anger. When a stressful situation presents itself, their first reaction would naturally involve the loss of temper, fury even. While this may be an automatic reaction, it does not always have to remain automatic. Anger is a habit that can be unlearned.

Conditioning can also be a reason for automatically reacting to stress with anger. If at any time, loss of anger seemed beneficial–for example if the other person gave in, negative energy was released, etc.–then the subconscious would be more inclined to react to stress in that same way. With even minor positive reinforcements, this reaction would in time become a habit, but again, habitual anger can be unlearned.

Lastly anger can also be part of social learning. A child, who is often in the company of anger prone adults, is more likely to respond with anger when faced with stressful situations. Positive reinforcement can play a large part in this as well. If the adult seemed to gain the upper hand by choosing to get angry, the child may then decide that anger is the most advisable or possibly the _only_ solution to problems. In this case, relearning how to react to stress can be especially difficult as it also involves learning new, previously untried ways to react to stress.

As with the factors of stress, understanding is often the first step in relearning this bad habit.

_Social learning, that was mine. Great, I get to blame it all on mum, "Remus, I'm just angry because my mummy is always yelling." There's some truth in that! I don't think he'll go for it though. He'll just say that it's about time I grew up already. _

_Maybe he's right. (Don't tell him I said that though!)_

_So Harry, I know you've been getting angry at your friends a lot this year. What's your excuse?_

"Vernon Dursley," said Harry.

"Hmm, what?" mumbled Ron rolling over in his bed to glance, bleary eyed at Harry. "Did you say something, mate?" Harry looked up surprised to see Ron awake. Ron was normally a heavy sleeper.

"Just talking to myself," answered Harry. "Sorry I woke you."

"I've been awake for awhile. Couldn't go back to sleep after a visit to the loo. So what were you talking to yourself about?"

Harry looked down at his book and Sirius comments. He was trying to think what he wanted to say when the book was snatched out of his hands.

"Hey," said Harry with a start.

"So what's this about anyway?" Ron asked looking at the cover, then he flipped the book open. He glanced up quickly and jumped back with a smile on his face. Harry watched him quizzically.

"SEX?" Ron yelled gleefully, "You've been reading about SEX?"

Neville sat bolt upright in bed. "huh? What'd you say?" Neville asked. Neither Harry nor Ron noticed him.

"Sex? What are you going on about?" asked Harry getting out of bed and following after Ron. Ron jumped on his bed holding the book above him where Harry couldn't reach it.

"This book you've been reading," said Ron trying to read while holding the book above him. "Says here if you don't want to always be getting angry, then you need to have sex."

"What?" asked Harry too surprised to think about outmanoeuvring Ron. "Where does it say that?"

Ron pointed to the page facing the one he'd been reading. Harry held out his hand in front of him waiting silently. With a laugh and a shrug Ron gave him back the book. Harry looked at the page more closely seeing a list with a comment from Sirius next to each item.

**Alternative Stress Releasers:**

1. Crying _We'll leave that to Snivellus._

2. Exercising _Quidditch, anyone?_

3. Work Activity _Cleaning, anyone? So now I should be the least stressed man in Britain!_

4. Humor _Note to self, invite the twins over more often. Oh wait, I already did!_

5. Writing _See comments on page._

6. Relaxation Exercises _Oo-amm, ooam, oom, or is that voom, voom, voom? Ah, I miss my bike..._

7. Verbalizing _Snivellus is a greasy git! Snivellus is a greasy git! _

8. Recreation _What? You're not having fun?_

9. Sex _Definitely!_

10. Problem Solving Activities or Communication _Order Meetings serve a useful function after all. What d'you know?_

11. Pillow or Bed Beating _Pillow fights, yes! Little tip to my favorite Godson...Hufflepuff girls are ferocious in a pillow fight, especially if they're angry at you for sneaking into their bedroom. James and I barely got out of that one alive! As it was, we were coughing up feathers for a week afterwards._

12. Music _Probably talking about that blah-blah stuff Remus likes._

13. Rest _Getting plenty of that. Too much._

Harry looked up into Ron's grinning face, "Number nine on a list of thirteen, and that was the first thing you saw?"

"It's there. I didn't make it up," said Ron his smile never wavering. Neville had joined them, and was standing beside Ron.

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Neville.

"Sex," said Ron with relish. "So Harry, who's the lucky lady going to be."

"You're going to have sex?" asked Neville his eyes bulging.

"What's this?" asked Harry. "I only get to choose one?"

"Uh-huh, let's see you get one first," said Ron with a laugh.

"Well let's see, who should I start with?" Harry asked. He folded one arm across his chest and rested his chin on his hand while he stared up towards the ceiling as though deep in thought.

"Ginny has a boyfriend," Ron told him. "Good thing too, because otherwise as her closest brother, I'd have to beat you to a bloody pulp to discourage you from touching her."

"Too bad," said Harry regretfully. "We could have played connect-the-freckle." Harry paused, "Guess it'll have to be Hermione then..."

"Hermione is off limits," Ron growled.

"Oh really? Why is that?" asked Harry cheekily. He gave Ron a questioning look, and then he walked across the room to his trunk. "Because she'd be a good choice. She's usually very helpful."

"Hermione is off limits." Ron's face had turned completely red, and he was watching Harry angrily.

Harry grabbed his towel and commented, "Funny, I don't think _she_ knows that."

Ron didn't respond still staring angrily at Harry. Harry smirked at him in return. Ron stared angrily at him for a moment more, before both boys started laughing.

"What about Luna?" asked Neville uncertainly.

Harry and Ron stopped laughing to give Neville a look.

"We're saving her for you," Ron told him with a very serious look on his face. Neville's eyes grew wide in surprise.

"We know you've secretly liked her for awhile now, Neville," Harry added with a smile. Neville's eyes amazingly opened even wider.

"You know mate, you really should ask her out," Ron said putting his arm around Neville's shoulder. "Otherwise, some other guy might just whisk her away, right from under your nose."

"Well, uh, that's okay, really, if Harry needs a girl..." Neville began.

Ron and Harry began laughing again. Harry sputtered out, "Neville, you're so generous!"

"You should have seen your face, Neville," added Ron still laughing.

"Ha-ha, Luna's nice and everything...but, I don't know," said Neville walking back over to his bed and sat down still watching the other two boys uneasily.

"She is nice," said Harry chuckling. "But she's not for you, Neville. We get it." Harry grabbed the rest of his things and opened the door to the hallway.

"You know what this means, don't you Harry?" Ron asked. Harry stopped and turned around curiously. He looked back at Ron.

"What does what mean?"

"Tonks is the only single woman left in this house for you to have sex with."

"WHAT?" screamed Mrs. Weasley.

Harry spun around to see Mrs. Weasley, her fists on her hips and her face a deep shade of red, now standing in the doorway of the room.

In short order, Mrs. Weasley had everyone in the house awake and either standing or sitting in the kitchen including Fred, George and Bill who'd been staying over. Ron had tried to tell Mrs. Weasely that she'd misunderstood, but she had refused to hear him until everyone was assembled.

"Now," she began looking over the bleary-eyed group quickly. Her eyes only paused when her stare landed on the three teenage boys lined up beside each other against the far wall. "I want to know just exactly _what_ is going on!"

Ron started to say something, but Mrs. Weasley cut him off.

"None of this nonsense about my hearing being off. I know exactly what I heard and I want an explanation, NOW!" Everyone waited with a growing curiosity for the boys' answer.

Harry and Ron exchanged uneasy looks. After taking a deep breath Harry held his Occlumency book in front of him where everyone could see it.

"Uh, see I've been reading this book for the last few days...about Occlumency," Harry began hesitantly.

"I've seen him reading it, so I was sort of curious about it," added Ron. Harry nodded.

"Sirius wrote a bunch of comments in the book. And this morning when I was reading a question he'd written, I guess I answered it out loud," said Harry.

"So I came over for a look-see," said Ron. "The first thing I noticed was...well...uh..."

Harry and Ron exchanged a look neither willing to continue.

"We'll be here all day at this rate," said Fred rolling his eyes. He snatched the book out of Harry's hand then sat back down in the chair next to George. Fred opened the book to the still marked page. His eyes scanned quickly over the page, but then stopped as he began to grin.

"Oh-ho, look at this, George!" Fred said gleefully.

"No," said George looking over Fred's shoulder and starting to smile too. "No, they couldn't possibly...they wouldn't have... they weren't talking about...THAT?"

"What are you two idiots talking about?" asked Bill grumpily.

"SEX," Fred and George chorused with laughter. Everyone else looked at the three boys still lined up along the wall waiting for them to deny the twins' accusation. Harry, Ron and Neville remained silent.

"Little Harry, Ronniekins and Nevilly-poo were talking about SEX!" explained George still reading. "Hey Fred, did you read this part?"

Fred quickly looked down where George was pointing. If anything his smile got even bigger, "Reckon we should take this book with us next time we go pub crawling?"

George nodded, "Just what I was thinking."

"Get this Bill," said Fred gesturing to George.

George cleared his throat and in an uncanny imitation of Percy told them, "According to this noteworthy text, SEX can help a person deal with their anger."

"So all we have to do," Fred eagerly said, "Is pretend to be grumpy and angry..."

"Put on a bit of Harry," George added. Fred nodded.

"And when the girls swoon," said Fred.

"Which they are always doing anyway," said George.

"We just tell them we need to have sex so we were not angry anymore!"

"Yeah, because that will really work," said Bill laughing.

"Is this how I raised you?" Mrs. Weasley screamed angrily at them before grabbing the book out of George's hands. She scanned the page. "This still doesn't explain Ron's comment!"

"What did Ron say?" asked Mr. Weasley curiously. Harry, Ron and Neville kept their eyes trained on the floor making no move to answer.

"Fine! What I heard Ron say was that Tonks is the only unmarried woman LEFT in this house that Harry hadn't had sex with."

"What?" yelled almost everyone in the room. Fred and George began laughing hysterically. Luna was peeling an orange. Tonks gave Harry a considering look that had him blushing redder than Neville, before started laughing too. The twins both fell off their chairs from laughing. Remus and Mr. Weasley were mostly succeeding at holding back their mirth, but Bill joined the twins and Tonks. Hermione and Ginny were strangely quiet.

"I knew you were friends," said Fred still laughing. "I had no idea you'd become so close!"

"You realize that your sister has been included in this," Mrs. Weasley screeched at the twins.

George wiping the tears from his eyes told her, "Ginny can take care of herself. It's Harry I'm worried about."

Mrs. Weasley was getting more and more upset. Mr. Weasley finally calmed the group down enough so that they could finish talking. Fred and George sat back up in their chairs, while Tonks wiped tears of laughter away with the hem of her T-shirt.

"I think we need to hear the rest of the discussion," said Mr. Weasley. "Now I'm sure that there is more to this story than we've heard. Boys?"

Harry, Ron and Neville had stood silently while the others had been laughing, blushing more and more with each comment made. They shook their heads mutely in response to Mr. Weasley's prompting. Mr. Weasley sighed and was about to probe further when Tonks stood and walked over to where the boys were standing.

She paused in front of Ron for a moment looking him up and down before shaking her head no. Then she stopped in front of Harry giving him the same up and down evaluation before laughing again.

She finally stopped in front of Neville. She put a finger under his chin and lifted his face until he was looking into her eyes. She gave him her most menacing smile, and since she had now grown fangs, her smile was extremely menacing. Neville leaned back fearfully. She nodded once.

"You seem like a clever boy," she told him. "Be clever now. Talk. I want to know every word these two said before Molly walked in." Neville his eyes widened looking at her in frightened bewilderment. "Now!" She yelled.

Neville jumped and began talking so fast that his lips didn't quite keep up with his voice. His answer became one long sound.

Tonks put up a hand, "Again, but slower please."

"Ron said Harry had to have sex and asked who's the lucky lady going to be? Harry asked, I only get to choose one? See if you can get one first, Ron told him. Then Harry said, who should I start with? Ron told him, Ginny has a boyfriend and it's a good thing too because otherwise as her closest brother I'd have to beat you up. Harry said that was too bad because they could have played connect-the-freckle. Then Harry said, guess it'll have to be Hermione then. But Ron said, Hermione is off limits, and Harry said, Why is that? Because she'd be a good choice. She's usually so helpful when I ask her for anything. Then Ron told him, Hermione is off limits, and Ron looked angry. Harry said, funny, I don't think _she_ knows that. They stared at each other and then started laughing, and that was when I asked...and Ron said, that means Tonks is the only single woman left in this house for you to have sex with, and Mrs. Weasley came in and screamed, WHAT?

"And that's what happened," finished Neville faintly.

"Connect the freckle?" asked Ginny incredulously.

"One of my favorite games," said George with a sigh.

"You know Neville, I think you might have left out..." Fred started to say, but Mrs. Weasley had grabbed both twins by an ear and jerked them to their feet.

"I raised my boys better than this...treating women like slabs of meat, now the six of you are going to spend the day scrubbing these floors until I can see my reflection so well that I can count my own freckles in it!" Mrs. Weasley yelled at them.

"Six?" asked Bill uneasily doing a quick survey of the room. He looked back to see his mother glaring at him. "You're not including me in this? Bu-but, but…I haven't done anything!"

"I saw you laughing. You encourage them, Bill, and as the oldest I expect you to set a better example!" Mrs. Weasley answered crossly. Bill started to argue but Mrs. Weasley cut him off. "Get to work! Now, all of you!"

With sighs of defeat Bill, Fred and George gave up on trying to argue with Mrs. Weasley. The other men of the household quickly retreated to higher ground while Mrs. Weasley worked out her temper by clearing the table. Hermione and Ginny turned away with a sniff and dragged Luna along with them. Luna hadn't seemed to notice being left out of the story. Only Tonx stayed long enough to say anything.

Tonks walked back to where the three boys still stood against the wall stopping just in front of Harry. Then in a voice that only the three could hear, she told Harry, "You're still too young for me, Harry, but maybe in a few years..."

She paused while all three boys jerked their heads up in shock, "in your dreams, Potter!" She laughed all the way to the silencing charms on the other side of the door leaving a blushing Harry behind her.

Mrs. Weasley let Bill and the twins go after an hour, but warned them that she'd better not hear them talk like that again.

Harry, Ron and Neville continued cleaning floor, cupboards, walls and even ceiling beams until lunch. The Mrs. Weasley banished them to their rooms with a pitcher of pumpkin juice and a few sandwiches for each of them while the Order meeting took place in the kitchen.

"You three can stay here and study for the afternoon," she told them before locking them in. "I won't have to worry about you during the meeting." They each grabbed a plate and some sandwiches then sat on their beds.

They ate silently until Neville interrupted the quiet, "Are you mad at me?" Harry and Ron looked up from their plates.

"Nah, we were about to cave too," Ron told him finally. "Course I probably wouldn't have put in so much detail..."

Harry nodded. He wouldn't have said anything, but then he'd grown up with the Dursley's. He'd learned long ago that with the Dursley's, saying nothing at all was always the best choice. Since there was never a question of if he'd be punished, but rather how big the punishment would be. After remembering some of the Dursley's punishments, Harry decided that cleaning the floors for a few hours seemed quite nice in comparison.

"I can't believe Mum overreacted so much," moaned Ron. "All that cleaning, we were at it for hours!" Harry looked over to see a slight smile on Neville's face. Apparently Neville thought they'd got off lightly too.

Harry sighed putting his empty plate and glass on the floor. He laid down in his bed staring at the ceiling. After a minute of two of silence he felt a smile start to creep on his face.

"What are you smiling about," asked Ron disbelievingly.

"Did you see the look on the girls' faces?" asked Harry.

Ron smiled back, "Yeah. As a matter of fact, I did." Harry and Ron started laughing.

"What?" asked Neville bewildered.

After the meeting Mrs. Weasley let them out of their room, but Harry wished she hadn't when he came downstairs and noticed how the remaining Order members started smirking at the sight of him.

"Think you're man enough for a Lady Auror, do you?" asked Kingsley Shacklebolt. Everyone in the room laughed when Harry blushed. Mrs. Weasley, who was just walking in the room behind the boys, gave everyone such a fierce and angry look that the laughter quickly died.

"He's got a bunch of money, Tonks. Better grab him while you can," observed Moody, making several people laugh again.

"Zis ees true," said Fleur who was standing beside Bill. Everyone gave her a surprised look. "My grandmozer, she always tells me, 'Get zee younger man for zee huzband. 'E is easier to train.'" Fleur nodded emphatically at Tonks. "You should take him now if 'e's weelling. Eez better to not wait." Everyone looked at her in shock, and Tonks began blushing herself.

"Ha, ha," said Bill grabbing Fleur by the arm and pulling her towards the door. "What a funny joke, Fleur! You really had us going."

"But, Beell..." she began before the silencing charms covered the rest of her objection.

"That might actually be good advice, Hermione," said Ginny from behind them. The three boys turned around to see that Ginny, Hermione and Luna were sitting along the wall and playing with Crookshanks.

"Hmmm…younger men, you know Dennis Creevy isn't that bad looking," suggested Hermione. Ginny looked surprised, but pressed on gamely.

"Loads of energy," suggested Ginny.

"Stamina too," said Hermione.

"Energy? Stamina?" yelled Ron. "He's like a ping pong ball. That's not energy, that's him ricocheting off one wall and then another!"

"Still a ricocheting boyfriend might not be so bad…" said Hermione looking to Ginny for help.

"Lots of action?" suggested Ginny trying to hide her grimace unsuccessfully.

"More action than I'm getting now, that's for sure," said Hermione with a sniff. Ginny nodded gleefully in agreement. The three girls stood up and left the room. Luna turned back at the last second to wave at the three staring boys.

The weekend passed quickly. At Remus suggestion, they set up an indoor obstacle course on Sunday. "Physical exercise is one item on "The List" you can do," he told them.

On the ground floor, the girls pulled the table out of the dining room and carried it into the hallway. It was wide enough to block off the entire hallway, so that anyone trying to go by would either have to climb over it or crawl under it. Mad-Eye charmed two bludgers to magically fly up down the stairs trying to hit anyone who ran past them to the first floor. Then, Neville glued several of the dinning room chairs to the floor in the first floor hallway scattering them out so that you had to run around the chairs to get through the hallway.

The girls still weren't speaking to them, but the boys managed to have fun anyway racing each other through the house, from top to bottom for most of the afternoon. Early on Remus put a silencing charm over Mrs. Black so that they didn't have to listen to her taunting.

They settled down after supper. Ron and Harry played chess. Harry even got close to winning once, but then the weekend at an end.

As Harry walked up the stairs to his bedroom he began to feel the weighing down by thoughts of the hearing. His feet grew heavier and heavier on each stair. He made a real effort that night to empty his mind and calm his emotions, but he couldn't seem to forget that the hearing started again tomorrow. After twice the normal number of Occlumency exercises, he finally was able to go to sleep.


	6. Chapter 5

Best Served Cold

by LNLisa

Chapter 5

Harry woke up feeling groggy and grumpy. His scar hurt, and his head ached.

He tried to remember if he'd had any nightmares, but he couldn't. _Does that mean the Occlumency worked?_ Harry wondered. With a shrug he pulled himself up in bed. The light coming in through the window over Neville's bed was even dimmer than usual, and Harry noticed the sound of rain outside.

_Monday weather,_ he thought.

He pulled on his glasses and automatically reached for the Occlumency text. Then, remembering Saturday's experience, when Mrs. Weasley had pulled them all into the kitchen and reprimanded them. He decided to skip the reading. He showered and changed. He trudged down the stairs for breakfast.

Mrs. Weasley was standing in her usual place between the stove, the sink and the table preparing breakfast. Remus sat at the end of the table a slipper dangling from his foot below his crossed leg, and in the middle of the table was Luna who seemed very busy sorting the food on her plate.

"Good morning, Luna," said Harry sinking into the chair next to Remus.

"Good morning, Harry," said Luna with a smile before returning to her food manipulations. Finally she speared a slice of peach with her fork and began nibbling at it.

"Are you nervous, Luna?" asked Harry.

"About what?" asked Luna pausing while she carefully began cutting the crust off of a slice of toast. Once she was finished with that, she began eating the crust. She left the center of the toast alone.

"About the hearing today," said Harry amazed.

"Oh no, I'm looking forward to it. I have so much to tell the Ministry about," she told him. She reached into her pocket and pulled out an especially large scroll. As she began unrolling it Harry could see that several scrolls had been taped together end to end so that the scroll was now about forty feet long.

"I've made a few notes, just reminders really so I don't forget anything. First, I intend to complain about Fudge's murderous treatment of those poor Goblins, next there's Rapalho's problem."

"Who?" asked Harry thinking maybe he was nervous for Luna and that's why none of the food looked especially appetizing.

"Rapalho, he's half-wizard and half-centaur. The centaurs have ostracized him, so he can't live with them. However the Ministry insists his third leg is the result of a charm accident, and he just needs to go to St. Mungos to have it fixed. They've completely ignored the fact that he can whinny and has hooves."

"Third leg," repeated Harry incredulously.

"Yes, of course centaurs have four legs and wizards have two, so of course Rapalho only has three legs."

Harry nodded mutely picking at a sausage.

Luna continued on. "Then I want to petition for the disclosure of the Clean-Hair Forever Potion which the Ministry has been suppressing for years in order to protect the shampoo and hair potion industry…"

As Luna droned on, Harry noticed that Remus had lowered his newspaper. He was smiling as he listened to Luna read her list to them item by item. Mrs. Weasley had "harrumphed" at the first few items, but now she stood still staring at Luna in shock.

"Next, the public needs to know, E. Hasna Gottaklu found the remains of a mysterious ship he believes is linked to the lost race of Seraphonum, but the Ministry has doggedly refused to support his expedition. Where is the tax money the Ministry collects going if there isn't enough money to support important scientific work like Mr. GottaKlu's?

"Also, Daddy has told the Ministry many times now, if they'd just feed the Dementors chocolate, the Dementors would dissolve!" Luna shook her head in disgust. Harry quickly looked at Remus, but the older man shook his head regretfully. Luna was almost at the bottom of her scroll now.

"Then there are the Kentish Nibelung who have been ignored for centuries!" Luna finished.

"I didn't realize that there were any Nibelung living in Kent," commented Remus once she was finished.

"There aren't," said Luna. "They moved to Wales about a thousand years ago."

Remus nodded wisely.

Moody came down the stairs then, "Time to be off, missy! Your father will be waiting for you." Luna stood gracefully and followed him out after waving goodbye to Harry and Remus.

Once they were gone, Harry asked Remus, "How come Mr. Lovegood didn't come this morning?"

"Professor Dumbledore thought it would be better if he met Luna at the Ministry," Remus answered smiling. "I believe it was agreed that Boyden Lovegood already knew far too many of the Wizarding World's most dangerous secrets. There was no point in making him even more of a target." Harry gave Remus an incredulous look before he noticed that Remus' lips were twitching.

Harry nodded with a small smile before turning his attention to his breakfast.

After breakfast, Harry decided to take a shift in front of Mrs. Black. For the remainder of breakfast, he hadn't felt like talking and had barely managed to say "Good Morning" when each of the other residents of Number 12 Grimmauld Place joined them in the kitchen. When he told Ron what he was planning to do, he noticed that Remus' searching look, but he ignored it.

Ron decided to join him, and they both went up to the Drawing room to get the chessboard.

"Harry," said Hermione just as Ron was placing the last pawn into a bag. Harry cinched up the bag and gathered up the board under his arm.

"Are you talking to us again then?" Ron asked churlishly after turning around to look at her. Hermione gave him a dirty look.

"There's no need to be rude. If anything you should be apologizing to the three of us girls," Hermione told him crossly.

"What for?" asked Ron.

"For talking about me and Ginny that way. I can't even imagine what you must have said about Luna! Lucky for you Neville had the sense to leave that part out?"

"It wasn't anything. All of it was a joke," said Harry. Ron nodded in agreement.

"Yes, well, you wouldn't like it if some girls started talking about you like that, would you Harry?" Hermione asked.

"What, you mean they don't?" retorted Harry.

"Yes, they do," said Hermione in a quieter tone of voice, "but I at least have the decency to stay out of it!"

Harry looked down at his feet feeling a huge lump in his throat. Ron didn't say anything either.

"This isn't what I came in here to talk to you about. I just…there's something that I've been wanting to ask you," she told them.

"Yeah?" Harry asked.

"I've been trying to understand this…I mean, I've listened to what you both have said, and I've been thinking about it, but I don't really get why you're doing this thing with Mrs. Black. Why do you want to spend all of your time on that painting?"

"Hermione, we've already explained this to you," said Harry annoyed again. His headache was getting worse, and he had to fight not to yawn.

"Explain it again, then, because I don't understand! All the years that I've known you, Harry, you have never purposely tried to be mean to anyone or anything, but now? You're both choosing to spend your free time screaming at some mad woman. I don't get it!"

"And what good has being nice ever done me?" asked Harry suddenly furious. "Did keeping that rat alive help my godfather or Cedric?

"You always say that I should tell people how I feel, Hermione," Harry reminded her. "But if I tell you that I'm angry, you tell me I should control it. Well, I can't control it! I always feel angry and that feeling doesn't ever seem to go away! Do you understand now? I decided to give my anger a try for once… since being nice has never gotten me anywhere! And maybe the only way to fight wickedness is with wickedness. How does everyone expect me to kill Voldemort? I'll tell you how, they expect me to murder him! So maybe the only way to fight that witch is to beat her at her own game.

"In any case, none of us will be happy here until that painting is off the wall, and that's why we're trying to get her down! If you don't like it, then don't watch!" Harry grabbed his things, and pushed past Hermione and out the door.

"But Harry," called Hermione from behind him, "how do you keep from becoming the thing you are fighting?"

Harry looked back at her, "I don't know, maybe you don't."

Harry stomped down the stairs. He was surprised to find Ron right behind him once he reached the bottom. Without saying anything to each other, they pulled chairs out of the dining room.

Mrs. Black was pacing back and forth in her painting watching them but saying nothing.

"Harry," asked Ron, "did anyone take that silencing charm off of her yesterday?"

Harry slammed his chair down against the wall, before turning around to look at the painting. "I don't kn..."

"DISRESPECTFUL, UNNATURAL, FILTHY HALF-BLOOD!" snarled Mrs. Black.

"Unnatural?" asked Harry feeling the blood rushing in his ears. He laughed in her face. "Unnatural? If anyone here is unnatural it's you!"

"VERMIN!" She screamed. "HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME! BLACK IS THE NOBLEST NAME IN ALL OF WIZARDING HISTORY! YOU AND YOUR MUDBLOOD LOVING FRIEND AREN'T GOOD ENOUGH TO KISS MY FEET!"

"Thank goodness for that," muttered Ron.

"Don't be too thankful yet!" said Harry spitefully. "Don't forget, Madella wasn't born a Black. You know maybe we should do a little research into her family history. What do you think, Ron, is she a half-muggle too, like Voldemort?"

"IMPUDENT, REVOLTING, LITTLE BRATS!" Screamed Mrs. Black. "I AM A BLACK! I WAS BORN TO BE A BLACK! IT'S ALWAYS BEEN MY DESTINY TO RULE THIS FAMILY!"

"What?" asked Harry with relish. "Did you say it's always been your destiny to RUIN this family? You've done a GREAT JOB!" Hermione joined them at the bottom of the stairs. Harry noticed that her cheeks were wet, and her eyes looked bloodshot. He was annoyed at the sudden guilt he felt.

Then Harry heard a murmuring around him. The paintings were whispering to each other. He glanced briefly at the painting of the Elizabethan Knight and saw that Phineas Nigellus was again sharing the canvas with Sirius' namesake. Both were watching Mrs. Black intently.

"BECAUSE OF ME THIS FAMILY HAS BEEN FEARED! BEFORE I CAME EVERYONE TOOK THE BLACK FAMILY FOR GRANTED! THEY WERE NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF LACKEYS FOR ALL THE OTHER PURE-BLOOD FAMILIES! BUT I MADE THEM NOTICE! I DIDN'T LET THEM FORGET ABOUT THE BLACKS! WE'RE PURE BLOODS ALL THE WAY UP THE LINE WITHOUT ANY TAINTED BLOOD. NO SCUM IS IN OUR BLOOD! BECAUSE OF ME THIS FAMILY FINALLY GOT SOME RESPECT! RESPECT!"

"Madame! You are quite wrong!" shouted the Nigellus, but Harry ignored him.

"Because of YOU?" yelled Harry. "BECAUSE OF YOU THIS FAMILY IS DEAD! The last Black is DEAD because of YOU and your little HENCHMAN! You are responsible for the murder of your own son!"

"SIRIUS WAS A BLOOD TRAITOR! HE HAD TO BE DESTROYED! HE DESERVED TO DIE, AND I WOULD HAVE KILLED HIM MYSELF IF I HAD BEEN ALIVE! I WOULD HAVE STABBED HIM WITH THIS DAGGER!

Mrs. Black's voice grew quiet as if she were telling them a secret, "Every morning I imagine this pillow is my DISEASED AND WRETCHED SON, and I STAB HIM! STAB HIM RIGHT THROUGH HIS BLEEDING HEART! I would have POISONED HIM AND THEN STABBED HIM UNTIL HE WAS DEAD, IF I WERE STILL ALIVE!"

She waved her dagger at Harry, "AND I WOULD DO THE SAME TO YOU, FILTH!"

She stared at him. Her body tensed with one foot forward as though ready to spring out of her painting and grab Harry by the throat as though he were her dead son. Seeing her rage, Harry suddenly found his calm.

"But you're not," Harry reminded her sitting calmly in the chair next to Ron. Ron and Hermione had been staring at the painting in shock and horror, but at Harry's words they turned as one to look at him, amazed by his calmness.

"You're dead," continued Harry. "You can't do anything to stop anyone--except yell, and a quick silencing charm is all it takes to put an end to that."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," said Ginny startling Harry. He turned to see her and most of the rest of the household standing slightly behind him in the hallway near the kitchen stairs. Ginny walked further into the hallway until she was standing beside Harry's chair.

"Once head of a family extending back hundreds of generations, but look at her now. She's just one more poorly drawn portrait, and she's already showing signs of aging," Ginny shook her head regretfully. She sat on the arm of Harry's chair, and turned to him as though he were the only one there. "Even her insults are useless. Pathetic."

Mrs. Black screamed.

"You know," said Harry loudly enough to be heard. "Let's leave her there. It's the perfect punishment. She can hang up there a millennium for all that I care, watching as life goes on without her. She'll be powerless to do anything!"

"I agree," said Ginny. "I mean can you believe how helpless and useless she is? She can't even get herself off that wall."

"YOU'RE WRONG, FILTH! I COULD COME DOWN OFF THIS WALL WHENEVER I WANTED!"

"Don't believe her, Harry," said Hermione suddenly. "She's a lying, grasping woman who'll say anything to get her own way."

"DON'T SPEAK TO ME, MUDBLOOD! YOU KNOW NOTHING! I ALONE CAN CONTROL MY DESTINY!"

"She's lying, Harry," said Ron. "Everybody knows that paintings can't do any magic. She's all talk."

"YOU, IGNORANT BRAT! I WAS THE GREATEST CHARMIST THAT EVER LIVED, ME, MADELLA BLACK, AND I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT!"

"No," said Hermione, "Ron's right. Objects, even animate objects, cannot do any kind of magic. She's lying."

"YOU THINK YOU'RE SO CLEVER, FILTH! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING! I CAN GET OFF THIS WALL WHENEVER I WANT TO AND ALL I HAVE TO DO IS SAY THE WORDS."

"I've never heard of any charm that works like that," Remus told them walking forward until he was standing next to Hermione. " I think she's making it up."

"I CREATED THIS CHARM, IDIOT BEAST! THAT'S WHY YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF IT, FOOLS!" screamed Mrs. Black furiously.

"Created? Maybe in your imagination," said Harry with a scornful laugh. "We don't believe you."

"IT'S TRUE! ALL I HAVE TO DO IS SAY THE WORDS, ECARTEE VOLUNTIUS!"

Suddenly they all heard a loud sucking noise.

The painting was pulled into the wall almost to the edge of the frame. It paused there for a moment, and Mrs. Black looked all around her in horror. Then with a pfuth sound the painting was spat off the wall.

Mrs. Black looked at them all fearfully and then began screaming. Harry caught Ron's eye and motioned to the painting. Ron nodded smiling in return.

Together they lifted the painting and turned it sideways. Ron and Harry each held on to one side of the painting with a single hand as they reached forward and kicked at the top of the frame until it broke in the center. They quickly flipped the painting and broke the other side of the frame. Then each grabbed one end of the painting. They pulled at it as hard as they could until the canvas tore in the center. Mrs. Black screamed curses at them from both sides of her painting. Remus motioned them to stop at this point.

"Allow me," they barely heard him say. Harry nodded, and he and Ron put the two halves of the painting on the floor, one on top of the other.

They couldn't hear the spells Remus performed because of Mrs. Black's screams, but they saw him pointing his wand first at the floor, then at the ceiling, and finally at the painting itself. After the last spell, the canvas and frame were engulfed in flames, and finally Mrs. Black's screams stopped.

Ron caught his eye giving him a triumphant smile. Harry did his best to return it. Once the painting had mostly burned down. Remus put the fire out and banished the ashes.

"Well, it's done." Remus stared down at where the painting had laid a few minutes before. Then, he shook himself. He patted Harry's shoulder then walked back down to the kitchen.

Harry heard as Ron awkwardly complimented first Ginny and then Hermione on tricking Mrs. Black as they walked towards the stairs.

"But Ron, I wasn't lying," said Hermione. "Objects can't perform magic. The painting was only completing a charm that the living Mrs. Black had performed long ago. The painting didn't have any magic itself, only the magic that Mrs. Black had allotted to it. That's why I think this whole business about items like Harry's sneakoscope can be ridiculous. Who knows who made them…"

"Hey! I bought that sneakoscope from a reputable vendor!" Harry heard Ron shout as they climbed the last few stairs up to the first floor.

Ginny snorted and added, "Yeah and he sold the best baklava in the market!"

They climbed the stairs together leaving him alone in front of the place where Mrs. Black's painting had been.

Harry stood looking at the blank rectangle on the wall. There was a surprising difference between the wall around the painting and the wall behind. _The painting can't have been that old_, thought Harry.

He couldn't understand why he wasn't more pleased with what had happened. Instead that familiar ache was still there. Having Mrs. Black gone didn't make it any easier to deal with Sirius being gone, or the prophecy, or the hearing. Really all he'd succeed at was getting rid of one small problem in a world of much larger and more painful problems. He sighed and sat back in the chair he'd pulled from the dinning room. The thoughts in his head kept swirling around. Time and time again he came back to Hermione's question, "How do you keep from becoming the thing which you are fighting against?"

After a while, he joined the others in the drawing room. They had already begun to play games, and they invited Harry to join in. Harry elected to sit back and watch trying to sort out his thoughts. Hermione joined him after awhile.

"Is everything all right, Harry?" she asked.

Harry shrugged.

Hermione was quiet for a while. "You know, I didn't really think you could get Mrs. Black down that way. Harry, you did it." Hermione gave him a sad smile.

"Maybe you'll feel better now and not so angry?"

Harry nodded avoiding her eyes. Finally, feeling ashamed of himself, he told her, "It didn't really help like I thought it would." Harry braced himself for her lecture. When several minutes had passed and Hermione still didn't say anything, Harry glanced up at her.

Hermione was staring out the window lost in thought.

"Hermione?"

She sighed and turned back to him with a rueful smile. "Harry, I want to help you, but I don't think that I can.

"Maybe…maybe you should talk to Remus about what you're going through. Maybe he could help you." Hermione stood up from her chair, and then she reached over and kissed Harry on the forehead.

"Harry, I learn from you everyday. You're a hero in my mind, and I'm proud to be your friend." She smiled at him with tears in her eyes, and then walked back to where the others were playing Exploding Snap.

Harry stared after her in amazement. He didn't know what to think anymore. The tears in Hermione's eyes had reminded him a little too much of Cho and left him feeling uneasy. She hadn't even suggested a book to him.

Finally, he left the room.

Once in the hallway, he headed up to his room. He closed the door behind him and sat on his bed. Thinking maybe what he needed was more sleep, he tried taking a nap, but that didn't work. He watched Ron's posters for a while, but quickly got bored with that.

After a long time had passed, he got up and walked over to his trunk. There he pulled out his Occlumency text.

Anger Myths:

Myth #1- Other people cause us to become angry. _(Actually this is true when applied to Snivellus)_

Myth #2- If the source of our stress were removed our anger would dissipate. _(Also true if applied to my mum)_

Myth #3- Venting is the only way to get rid of anger. _(Maybe not, but it is fun!)_

Myth #4- Venting can reduce and even eliminate anger.

Myth #5- We have the right to be angry when bad things happen. _(What? How can that be a myth? If something bad happens, I'm going to get angry! That's just the way it is! I can't control the way I feel!)_

Harry away from the book in surprise suddenly remembering that he'd said the same things to Hermione that morning. Weren't they true? How could you control your feelings? Didn't you just feel what you feel?

He looked a second time at the myths above number five, this time focusing more on the myth than on Sirius' comments. He'd been blaming his anger on other people, but that hadn't solved any problems. He had thought if he could get rid of Mrs. Black than he would feel better, but that hadn't work either. Venting, well he'd been venting for a year. He'd yelled at his friends, then Dumbledore, and then Mrs. Black. He'd only ever felt embarrassment afterwards.

Confused by his thoughts, Harry went back to reading.

Myth #6- We are justified in our anger. _(If this writer had had people like Snivellus and my Mum to get mad at, he'd feel differently about that!)_

Myth #7- Anger is uncontrollable. _(Yup! Just like me!)_

Myth #8- Life should be fair. _This one I really don't get! I mean why shouldn't life be fair? It isn't, believe me I know all about that! But why shouldn't it be? _

Harry thought about that. Why shouldn't life be fair? He didn't know the answer. He had a lot of experience with unfairness between the Dursleys and his less pleasant experiences in the Wizarding world. Of course it wasn't fair for anyone, was it? It wasn't fair that Ron, who'd always loved Quidditch so much, had to really struggle to be a good player while Harry, who'd never even known what it was, made the team as a first year. It wasn't fair that Hermione, the smartest witch he knew, was looked down on and mocked by other witches and wizards because she was a Muggleborn, and it wasn't fair that Remus, one of the best teachers he'd ever had, wasn't allowed to teach just because he was a werewolf.

Actually a lot of things weren't fair for Remus. Harry started wondering how Remus felt about that. How did Remus keep from getting angry all the time?

Harry put his book down and thought back to Dumbledore's visit at the Burrow. It seemed so long ago.

After Dumbledore had told them about the hearing and Harry had run up to Ron's room, Remus had come up stairs to talk to Harry.

_After hearing a short knock on the door, Harry reluctantly got off the bed and unlocked the door. There was only a little sunlight left, and the room was mostly in darkness now. Harry moved back to his bed and sat down. He didn't say anything, and for several long moments neither did Remus._

_"Sirius left a letter for me to read in case something happened to him," began Remus. Harry looked at him in amazement. No one had dared even speak Sirius' name in front of him since he'd come to the burrow, but Remus went on as though there was nothing unusual in discussing a letter from Sirius. Perhaps there wasn't. _

_"He asked me to look after you, Harry, but he warned me that looking after you was a near impossible task. So the next best thing I'd be able to do for you is to try to be there for you when bad things happened."_

_Harry looked down without saying anything. When Remus didn't say anything else, Harry looked up at him. Remus was watching the Chudley Cannon's keeper who had a habit of hitting the rings he was guarding. Sure enough, a few seconds later the keeper was falling to the sand below after hitting his head on a quaffle and being knocked back into the goal post._

_"This hearing is one of those times, Harry. I can't really do anything to help you, but I'll be there with you, I promise you that."_

_"Professor," began Harry, but Remus interrupted him._

_"I'm not your professor anymore. Call me Remus, or I'm going to hex you," he told Harry._

_"Right, well, what's going to happen to me? I tried to do an unforgivable curse on Bellatrix."_

_"I don't know, Harry," said Remus. Harry was both grateful and disappointed that Remus didn't offer him any false promises. "Given the circumstances, your age, and the fact that you didn't succeed…nothing may happen. You might receive a full pardon."_

_"But with the Ministry the way it is these days," finished Harry, "there's no way to be sure. Is that what you were going to say, Professor?" And just like that Harry noticed he had pink feathers growing out of his hands and face. When he tried to speak, all he managed was a squawk. _

_"I'm sorry, Harry," Remus told him regretfully. "If you continue to insist on calling me Professor, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ignore you."_

_"Squawk! Squawk!" said Harry flapping his feather covered arms.._

_"This is the Flamingo Hex. Very interesting. You retain your basic shape, well except for your backside which has grown quite a bit I see, and you get new pink feathers, a lovely beak and a squawking voice," said Remus conversationally. "I learned it just for Sirius…all that black hair—pink was definitely his color!"_

_"Squawk! Squawk! Squawk!"_

_"Oh yes, no need to worry, Harry. I have pictures. Of course I'll show them to you. Which reminds me…" Remus pulled a camera out of a previously empty pocket, and took several pictures of Harry before he began molting._

_"Squawk! Squamus! Squemus! Remus!" said Harry finally getting his voice back. Remus raised his eyebrows questioningly._

_"Yes, Harry? Is there something wrong?" asked Remus with a genuine look of interest. But Harry couldn't be angry a moment longer, and they both began laughing._

Remus had kept his promise during the hearing. Harry wondered if Remus could help him now.

That night, Luna returned just in time for dinner. She was especially cheerful, the happiest Harry had ever seen her, and despite Mrs. Weasley's initial attempts to stop her, she told them all about her day in court.

"And then they asked me if I'd been the one to think of using the Thestrals to get to the Ministry, and I said, 'Yes, of course! I got the idea from the ancient people of Atlantis. Everyone knows they used Thestrals to travel, but then once they perfected the Fountain of Youth they forgot what death looked like, and they could never find their Thestrals to travel with again. Which is why I think we need to organize a search party. Can you imagine being stuck on an island with the same 200 people for thousands of years?' They didn't really say much after that. They must have been ashamed of themselves? So then I told them all about the horrible things that had been happening to a group of Wizards in Ireland who used to live in this town called Brigadoon…"

_Mrs. Weasley didn't need to worry about Luna saying something that would influence our testimonies_, thought Harry.

Harry went to bed not long after dinner. He practiced his Occlumency meditations without too much difficulty, but it was a long time before he was able to sleep.

As had now become his habit, Harry awoke just in time to see Neville before he left for the Ministry. As he entered the kitchen that morning, he was only mildly surprised to see Neville's Gran seated next to Neville at the table.

"Toast, Mrs. Longbottom?" Mrs. Weasley was asking. "Or tea?"

"No thank you, Molly," said Neville's Gran. "I've already eaten. Neville don't slouch like that when you are eating. It can't be good for your digestion."

"Good morning," said Harry to the room at large. Mr. Weasley was actually there early, and now he was swallowing mouthfuls of food in a manner Harry usually associated with Ron. Remus was there, in the kitchen as usual, wearing his morning garb of baggy corduroy pants, jumper and slippers as he munched on toast and read a Muggle newspaper.

"Good luck today, Neville," said Harry as he sat down across from the Longbottoms.

"He doesn't need luck!" said Mrs. Longbottom sounding affronted. "He simply needs to tell those dunderheads the truth, and if they know what's good for them, they'll finally do something about it."

Harry smiled appreciatively at Mrs. Longbottom. She may be a frightening or an intimidating woman for a young child to grow up with, but she would also be a good person to have behind you when you were facing trouble.

"I think we're going to miss all the fun today, since we're stuck here," Harry joked.

"Exactly what I was thinking," said Remus.

Mrs. Longbottom seemed to blush slightly in acknowledgement of their praise.

"Time to be off then," said Mr. Weasley when Moody entered the room looking for him.

"Bye Harry," said Neville as he followed the adults out of the room.

Harry finished his breakfast in silence. As he was going back upstairs to his room, the Elizabethan Knight called to him.

"So young hoodlum, which relic of the Black family line do you plan to destroy today?"

"Nothing," said Harry curtly and began to walk away.

"What? I thought that was your goal to completely wipe any memory of the Black family from the world." Harry turned around and walked back over to the painting.

"That's not true!"

"So what do you plan to do with us? Your friends have already been talking about ways to get us down so they could paint these walls," the Knight told him.

"Nothing," Harry answered. "We want to paint the walls…but as long as you aren't rude to the people who live here, then you can stay up. I don't really care." Harry could hear the paintings murmuring between each other.

"He might not care, but I do!" said one.

"These walls look horrible," said another. "Do you really think they might put us back up if we allowed ourselves to be taken down?"

"I don't think we should trust him," said the Spinster still doing her needlework.

"What choice do we have?" answered the Knight.

"Wait until Dumbledore gets here," suggested Phineas Nigellus as he squeezed passed a painting of an especially fat man. He continued to make his way downstairs through various paintings until he stood beside the knight. "This boy and that werewolf will do whatever Dumbledore decides they should do, and you know you can trust Dumbledore."

"How do you know you can trust him?" asked Harry in surprise.

"Because I have a front row seat in his office! Haven't you learned anything from studying at Hogwarts? I know exactly what kind of person Albus is, and though he may be a simple minded fool, he at least always tries to do what he thinks is right."

Harry nodded uncertainly.

"Even the Sirius knew that!"

Harry went back to his room and lay down. He still didn't know what to think about Occlumency and controlling his anger. Finally he must have fallen asleep, because the next thing he knew Remus was shaking him awake.

"Hey there, sleepyhead, time for lunch. I've been looking for you."

"Hi Remus," said Harry sitting up. He put his glasses on but made no other move to get up.

Remus had crossed the room, but he stopped when he noticed that Harry was still on his bed.

"Everything alright, Harry?" asked Remus softly walking back towards the bed.

"No, but then it never is," said Harry wanting to lash out again. Harry rubbed his eyes, reminding himself that he'd tried lashing out, and it didn't work. It was time for him to give something else a try.

Remus stood at the end of the bed watching Harry for several minutes. He pulled up a chair and sat down while Harry stared at the ceiling trying to understand his own thoughts.

"It didn't help, did it?" asked Remus. Harry looked at him in surprise.

"What?" asked Harry.

"Getting Mrs. Black off the wall, it didn't make you feel better, did it?" asked Remus.

"No," said Harry with a snort. "Nothing I do lately seems to do any good at all!"

"I wouldn't say that," said Remus with a frown.

"No?" said Harry almost yelling. Suddenly he couldn't stand to be on the bed anymore. He jumped to his feet.

He began to pace, but the room wasn't big enough with so many beds, and he had to turn after ever fourth or fifth step.

"No Harry," answered Remus calmly. "In the few short years since I've met you I have been surprised and impressed by how often you help others."

"You mean my 'saving people thing?'" asked Harry scornfully. "Yeah, I'm really good at saving people. Just look at how I saved Sirius..."

"Yes, let's look at how you saved Sirius," said Remus sounding rather angry as he stood in front of Harry. "You saved Sirius, Harry. You saved him, so that he had friends again. You saved him so that he had a purpose in life besides revenge and murder. You saved him by giving him hope for a future."

"A future he'll never have because of me," Harry shouted. Remus grabbed Harry by the shoulders.

"You saved him by giving him back his honor and treating him with respect and affection," Remus continued as though Harry hadn't spoken.

"What good is honor if he's dead?" asked Harry breaking away from Remus' grasp and sitting heavily on Ron's bed.

"Honor is the beginning of peace, Harry," answered Remus sitting beside him and gently putting his arm around Harry's shoulder. "Because of you, Sirius was able to gain some of his self-respect back.

"Harry, Sirius didn't talk much about his time in Azkaban, but I think when he was there his main thought was always that he'd failed James and Lily...and you. Once he got out, he just wanted to kill Pettigrew, 'bring him to justice' is how he put it. I think, he thought that killing Pettigrew would take away the pain he'd been tortured with during his stay in Azkaban…

"But Harry, he was wrong and he realized that after Pettigrew had escaped. His peace began in the Shrieking Shack…he began to feel better then. He thought it was because we had captured Pettigrew, but then Pettigrew escaped. Sirius' pain still didn't come back though, not completely at least, even when the Dementors attacked, it was different."

"Sirius really loved you, Harry. I hope you know that because he would have thought his life was a failure if you didn't at least know that."

Harry nodded feeling too choked up to speak. They sat in silence for several minutes, Remus' arm still around Harry's shoulder.

"Remus? Can I ask you something?" said Harry.

The older man nodded.

"When other people treat you badly because you're a werewolf, how do you keep from getting angry?"

Remus was quiet for a long time, finally he told Harry, "I usually just think it away. I tell myself that they don't know me personally. Their fear is a natural reaction born from ignorance. That maybe if our situations were reversed I'd feel the same way they do."

"I don't think you'd ever treat anyone like that," said Harry.

Remus shrugged, "That's because the events in my life have shaped my personality, just like your life has influenced you. Maybe I would have been just like Sirius if I hadn't suffered through this disease, or worse, like Peter."

"And maybe I would have been like Draco?" asked Harry.

Remus smiled and said, "I don't think your mum would have let you get away with that kind of behavior."

"So I should try to think away my anger?" asked Harry.

Remus shrugged, "Your little experiment with Mrs. Black has been an interesting one for me. I've learned quite a bit from watching all of you."

"How is that?"

"It's kind of like that list you and Ron got in trouble for making jokes about. Each person showed you how they deal with anger in their own way. From Luna uses her math calculations to help her not to take the other person's insults seriously. The twins use humor naturally. Hermione tries to reeducate. Ron gets bored of them and ignores them. Ginny taunts them back. Neville outlasts them. And you, Harry, you stick to what you believe is right.

"I've learned from all of you," Remus told him.

"I hadn't thought about it that way," said Harry in amazement. Remus ruffled his hair.

"Sometimes the answer is there all along, and you just need to look at it from a different angle. Come downstairs. You'll feel better after you've eaten something."

Harry nodded, but stayed seated even after Remus had left the room. Finally with a sigh he stood and walked out of the room and down the stairs.

As he walked down to the ground floor hallway, Harry looked at the paintings still up on the wall. Finally he came to a decision.

"Listen up," he said to the paintings lining the corridor. "You know what happened yesterday, but more importantly you know what Madella Black was like. She was insane. Insulting to everyone, all of you included.

"My godfather was a Black, and I loved him." Harry felt himself choking up. He heard a stair below him creak and realized his friends must be listening in. "Sirius would not have been the man he was if he had not been a Black, and to me he was a great man. So, because I bear his family no grudge beyond that of Madella Black, I am giving you two choices.

"You may have heard others talk about how smart my friend, Hermione Granger, is. I can promise you that if I ask her to find a way to use get you off the wall, especially now that she knows which charm was used, she will find a way.

"Your first choice then is to remain where you are with the condition that you will treat everyone who lives here and everyone who visits here with respect. Well, except Severus Snape, I don't really mind if you insult him. Otherwise I will ask Hermione to get to work.

"Your second choice," Harry told his avid audience, both painting and living. "Is that you come down from the wall. If that is your choice, then you will be placed in storage, probably in the attic, until it is safe for you to leave this house. When the secrets you have heard are no longer dangerous to us, we will give you a choice of where you would like to go—either to Slytherin house at Hogwarts or if you chose to the Malfoys or other relatives."

Harry nodded to them all, and walked away towards the stairs. As he reached the end of the hallway, Remus smiled at him.

"I have one more to add to that list," he told Harry.

Harry looked at Remus in surprise, "What's that?"

"Forgiveness."


	7. Epilogue

All rights to Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling.

1Best Served Cold

by LNLisa

Epilogue

Harry sat on a sofa near the common room fire. He'd managed to be one of the first back from supper otherwise he'd have been sitting at his usual table towards the back of the Common room. Late September wasn't that cold, but Harry still preferred to sit near the fire. Hermione and Ron were still in a Prefects meeting, at least that's where he thought they were. He was finishing his defense essay. He and Ron had gotten a lot of their work done over the summer. But because the Defense professor was new, they still had work to do for his classes.

Just then the portrait door opened and Ginny Weasley walked in. Harry waved to get her attention and she nodded before crossing the common room to join him.

She sat on the sofa next to him and began pulling parchment and quills out of her bag. Harry went back to working on his essay, and Ginny gave Harry a curious look.

"I'm surprised to see you actually working with quill and parchment," commented Ginny.

"Yes, well, Snape…surprise assignment."

"Ah…" said Ginny. "So what was the point of doing all your work over the summer?"

"We wanted more time to practice magic, so we decided to get as much of the theory done over the summer as we could," Harry explained.

"Why not tell Hermione then and get her to help you?"

Harry shook his head, "Can you imagine all of the extra work she'd expect us to do if she knew we weren't busy?"

Ginny laughed, "She's going to figure it out, you know."

"She thinks we've been doing our studying in the Room of Requirement. She doesn't know a thing," said Harry with a cocky grin.

Ginny gave him a shrewd look, "Are you sure of that?"

Harry watched her nervously, but Ginny only laughed and finished pulling her books out of her bag.

They worked quietly together. Harry was able to finish his Potions essay. Then he pulled out his summer notes for Defense and began the assignment for that class.

"I'm going to have to do that next summer," Harry heard Ginny mutter. He looked back at her and smiled. He suddenly noticed that McGonagall had entered the room. She looked around, and the room grew silent.

"Hogsmead visit this weekend," she announced. The room erupted in cheers around them.

Harry laughed with everyone else until he noticed that McGonagall hadn't left. Instead she seemed to be searching the room. Her eyes stopped when they landed on Harry. The smile on Harry's face slowly died.

McGonagall walked briskly over to where he sat.

"Potter, the headmaster would like to see you this evening some time." Harry let out the breath he'd been holding. It couldn't be that bad if he only wanted to see him sometime.

"Thank you, Professor," he told her. "I'll go now." She nodded. There was no need to ask the password. He'd already visited the headmaster several times this year.

"I'll save your spot," said Ginny. Harry gave her a smile and nodded in return. He made his way to Dumbledore's office and gave the gargoyle the password, "Toblerone."

"Harry, good evening," said Professor Dumbledore when Harry walked through the door of his office.

"Good evening professor," said Harry. The two had made their peace that summer, but Harry still felt horribly guilty each time he entered this office.

Dumbledore was studying him over his half-moon glasses. Finally he sighed and leant back in his chair.

"Harry, I have the sad duty to tell you that the hearing has almost concluded and you will be expected to appear in court…most likely on Friday." Harry sucked in a deep breath. In the back of his mind, he'd known that the hearing was still going on, but he's managed to avoid thinking about it. Now, reflecting back to the events of his summer and the way he'd acted in front of the committee…it all felt like it was a world away.

As he returned to the common room, he saw his friends waiting for him. They were sitting around the fire where he had been sitting earlier, and they had left his place free. He stopped for a moment, they hadn't noticed the door opening and they were whispering to each other. Ginny sat in the same place. Ron and Hermione sat across from her on the other sofa. Hermione had spread her books on to Ron's lap, but Ron was talking so animatedly with Ginny that he'd hardly noticed. Neville was there too on the other side of Ginny.

He felt gratitude for his friends surpassing his fear. He knew they were waiting for his news, and he quickly joined them.

"Hi," he said trying to act nonchalant.

"Harry," said Hermione jumping in surprise, "You're back! How did it go? What did Dumbledore have to say? Is it V-v-voldemort? Why did he want to talk to you?"

"Hermione, give him a chance to answer," said Ron. The four were watching Harry intently.

"Uh, it's just about the hearing. Dumbledore reckons that I'll have to go back to testify on Friday," he told them.

"Ar-are you okay with that, Harry?" asked Hermione tentatively like he was a bomb waiting to explode.

Harry leaned back against the sofa to think about his answer. Finally he shrugged, "I guess so," he nodded to himself before he continued. He'd been asking himself the same question, and he found his own answer as he responded to Hermione's question. "I'm worried, but I'll just have to wait and see how it turns out, like the rest of you."

He looked up at his friends and was surprised to find them all staring at him in shock. They seemed more surprised by his response than his news.

"What?" asked Harry impatiently.

"You've changed, Harry," said Neville.

"Change doesn't seem like a strong enough word," said Ron with a snort of laughter.

"Transformed," added Ginny. Harry looked at her and was surprised by the admiration he could see in her eyes. He quickly looked down.

The next several days passed in a blurry haze. The morning of the hearing, Harry had to get up quite a bit earlier than usual, so he was surprised when Ron and Neville both woke up and began dressing for the day too. He shrugged it off though, since he was grateful for their company. When all three were ready, they went to the bottom of the stairs.

Hermione and Ginny were waiting for them on a nearby couch, "Good morning," said Harry curiously.

"Good morning," they both answered sleepily. Then Hermione walked over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Ginny followed and gave him a kiss on the other cheek. Harry felt his face redden.

"That's for luck," said Ginny. Harry who was holding a hand to his cheek could only nod in amazement. The five made their way to the great hall. At this time of day, it was mostly deserted, but there, at the center of the Gryffindor table, sat Luna Lovegood.

"What's going on?" asked Harry as they all sat next to Luna.

"We realized that you had spent breakfast with each of us before our days in court," explained Hermione. "You helped each of us, so we decided to do the same for you."

Harry wanted to tell them that they should go back to bed, but he found he couldn't force himself to say anything. Instead he gave them grateful looks while gathering some food on his plate.

He wasn't very hungry, so he mostly just pushed his food around on his plate. "Six hours is a long time, mate," commented Ron, but the rest left him alone.

Just then Professor McGonagall came over to their table and told Harry, "Professor Dumbledore is waiting for you in his office, Mr. Potter."

Harry nodded.

McGonagall began to turn away, but at the last moment she turned back, "Good luck, Mr. Potter."

"Thanks," said Harry. He stood and his friends stood with him. Harry looked at them questioningly.

"We'll walk with you to Professor Dumbledore's office," Hermione told him.

There were silent as they crossed the halls and climbed the stairs. The castle still wasn't completely awake, and they didn't run into any other students on their way. Finally they arrived at the stone Gargoyle. The girls each gave Harry a hug, which embarrassed him. Then Ron and Neville patted him on the back saying, "Good luck mate." Harry nodded.

Finally he turned towards the gargoyle and gave the password. He stepped on the stairwell and waved goodbye to his friends.

Harry hesitantly followed Remus and Mad Eye into the courtroom. He really had no idea what would happen today. When school had begun, Harry had been surprised to find himself well liked again. Part of him hoped that that was because of the trial, but the other part of him couldn't understand how the hearing could have helped him.

Remus stopped until Harry was beside him. Harry had been genuinely pleased to see his guardian again when the portkey had brought him and Mad-Eye to Mr. Weasley's office. Remus gave him a warm smile and a hug to welcome him, surprising Harry who still wasn't used to that much affection from anyone but Mrs. Weasley.

Now Harry stopped in the center of the courtroom, the chair was there, and after a moment of dread, Harry sat down in it. He looked around at the masses of faces. The Wizengamot had their usual unreadable expressions on their faces, but the crowd mostly seemed to be smiling at him.

"Mr. Potter, after reviewing the facts of the case, we have chosen to decide your case now rather than have another trial. Both of those options would be extremely costly and time consuming." The audience began clapping in approval, but Chairwitch Bones silenced them.

"Your testimony as well as that of your friends and other people around you made it clear that you had been under extreme and prolonged stress at the time you attempted the Cruciatus Curse. Despite this and the fact that Bellatrix LeStrange murdered someone you obviously loved a great deal, you were unable to perform the curse.

"Your testimony and that of Professor Dumbledore have likewise made it clear that even had you chosen to disable or stun Madame LeStrange, you would have been unable to restrain her since Lord Voldemort showed up immediately following your attempted curse.

"The Three Unforgivable Curses are each in their own right the most serious and heinous of crimes. Mr. Potter, even in choosing to use an Unforgivable Curse you committed a grievous wrong. I hope that you understand that, but I must say judging by your behavior in this courtroom two months ago that I am worried that you don't really appreciate the severity of what you did."

"Madame Chairwitch," interrupted Harry. "May I say something?" Chairwitch Bones nodded her head. "Two months ago, you're right, I didn't understand why trying to hurt Bellatrix was so wrong. I mean I knew it was legally wrong, and having felt the Curse myself, I knew how horrible it feels. I always believed though that Bellatrix deserved it, and I thought that justified my behavior? But since then..."

Harry paused for several moments trying to gather his thoughts. He glanced at Remus unsure of how to continue. Remus gave him an encouraging smile, reminding Harry of their many conversations during the summer. Finally, he found the words.

"The problem with trying to curse her is in what it did to me, or didn't do. My grief for my Godfather wouldn't have gone away even if Bellatrix had been hurt by that curse, so really, even though she killed my Godfather… cursing her never would have helped me.

"That's something I learned this summer. Other people might do things that hurt me, but blaming them doesn't help me. I have to try to solve my problems instead." Harry looked down. He didn't think he'd explained very well, and he felt embarrassed at having to explain his feelings.

After a few moments he noticed how silent the courtroom was. He glanced up to find Chairwitch Bones giving him a penetrating look.

"I'm glad to hear that," said Chairwitch Bones at last. "It makes what I have to say that much easier." The Chairwitch picked up a scroll in front of her and began reading.

"Attempting an Unforgivable Curse is a serious offense, but the fact that you could not perform it, despite everything that had gone on before, is likewise telling. According to the law…we must punish every attempt of an Unforgivable Curse," the crowd roared angrily while Harry felt his head drop in despair.

"Silence, silence!" Madame Bones was standing and giving the audience warning looks. Once they were quiet, she continued, "We have decided however that serving time in Azkaban would not be appropriate, so in lieu of that, we are fining you 5000 galleons and sentencing you to 112 hours of community service."

Harry's heart soared as he began smiling his relief. The audience had jumped to their feet and was cheering vociferously. Harry looked over to find that Remus had tears in his eyes and was smiling as well. They gave each other a quick hug before breaking away with chuckles of relief.

Harry looked up to see that Chairwitch Bones had the slightest of smiles on her face. She nodded her head once at them both, and then with a voice that boomed over the crowd, announced, "This hearing is now at an end!"

Remus grabbed Harry's arm and together they hurried over to where Moody and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley stood. The audience was crowding in behind them to congratulate Harry, but with unspoken agreement the five hurried out of the room and down the hallway not stopping to talk to anyone. Once they made it into Mr. Weasley's office and had locked the door, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's each gave Harry a hug too. Mrs. Weasley was crying in relief and kept repeating, "I'm so glad... I've been so worried...I'm just so glad..."

"You did well today, Harry," said Remus.

"Better than this summer?" asked Harry with a rueful glance.

"I happen to think you did fairly well this summer, so it's difficult to say. Seeing your anger and mistrust directed at them, helped them to better appreciate just how much you had been put through," answered Remus with a chuckle. 'They're used to unconditional respect, but you didn't have that to give them anymore. Still I think it was a good thing today to show that you have grown and learned to control yourself better."

Harry nodded, then he said, "Remus..."

Remus raised his eyebrows in question.

"Thanks. Thanks for coming with me to the hearing, and thanks for talking to me about...everything." Harry looked uncomfortably at his feet.

"It is my pleasure always, Harry," answered Remus quietly. Mrs. Weasley suddenly began crying again, but Harry didn't pay her much attention. He smiled quickly at Remus and gave him a hug before reaching out for the portkey that would take him back to Hogwarts.

"See you at Christmas," said Harry as he felt the familiar tug.

"I'll expect to hear from you before that though," answered Remus. Harry nodded with a smile just as the portkey began pulling him away.

Harry hurried from Professor Dumbledore's Office to the Gryffindor tower. As he climbed through the common room door, a cheer went up. Hermione ran forward and hugged him tightly.

Ron clapped him on the back, "Well done, mate," he said.

Ginny led all the students into a round of "He got off! He got off!" Soon it evolved into a conga line that led into the school, growing as it went, until Harry, pulled into the line by Ginny thought the whole school must be in the conga line.

Harry thought it would all stop when Professor Snape stepped in front of Ginny, but then Professor Dumbledore, who'd slipped into the line about a dozen people back, called out, "You're missing the fun, join us, Severus!" This distracted Professor Snape long enough for Ginny to side step him and lead them all out to the grounds.

Once the conga line had disintegrated into a mass of dancing and chanting, Professor Dumbledore announced a feast to great applause.

"A feast and a Hogsmead weekend tomorrow!" said Ron with delight.

"Hmmm…." Said Hermione, "Don't forget Ron, you and Harry have your study time planned for Saturday morning. You wouldn't want to get behind since your schoolwork is _so_ important to you now."

Ron gave her an uneasy look. Hermione caught Ginny's eye and winked. Both girls began to giggle.

"You do know," said Harry in surprise.

"Of course," said Hermione. "Did you really think you could fool me? I figured it out while we were still at the Burrow, but I enjoyed watching you do your own work so much that I decided now to say anything." The two boys gaped at her, but Hermione only grinned in return.

Harry and Ron finally looked at each other and began laughing.

"Come on, let's go join the feast," said Ginny, and the four friends walked back towards Hogwarts.

A/N: Special thanks to all of the people who have helped me so much on this story Kari, who always does a great job of telling me when the story goes lame, the Diva's of Shoulders Free, without whom I might have given up, and andy, who always does a lovely job at Britpicking for me! Thanks, the story is much better because of all of you!


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